r 


REESE  LIBRARY 

OF  THE 

UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA, 


SIGMA  PUBLISHING  COMPANY, 

10  Van  Buren  Street,  Chicago,  111. 


WORKS  BY  DENTON  J.  SNIDER 

ON     THE     KIISTDERGARDElSr, 


1.  Froebel's  Mother  Play«6ongs. 

A  Commentary  (new  edition),  complete 
with  new  introduction,     ....    $1.25 

2.  The  Psychology  of  Froebel's  Play  Gifts. 

This  book  with  the  preceding  one,  un- 
folds the  two  main  elements  of  Froebel's 
system, 1.25 

3.  The  Life  of  Frederick  Froebel. 

An  entirely  new  life  of  the  founder  of  the 
Kindergarden, 1.25 


SNIDER'S  PSYCHOLOGIES  : 

1.  Psychology  and  the  Psychosis^      .        .        .      2.00 

2.  The  Will  and  Its  World,        ....      2.00 

3.  The  Psychology  of  Institutions  (in  preparation) . 
Elizabeth  Harrison's  Works  on  the  Kindergarden : 

1.  In  Storyland, 1.25 

2.  Two  Children  of  the  Foothills,       .        .        .1.25 


THE  LIFE 


OF 


FREDERICK  FROEBEL, 


Founder  of  the  Kindergarden, 


BY 

DENTON  J.  SNIDER, 

Co-founder    of    the    Chicago     Kindergardsn    College. 


SIGMA  PUBLISHING  CO., 
CHICAGO,  10  VAN  BUREN  ST. 


LB/i 

s 


Copyright  by  D.  J.  Snider,  1900. 


NIXON-JONES  PRINTING  Co., 

215  Pine  Street, 

ST.  Louis. 


To 
Miss  Elizabeth  Harrison 

and 

Mrs.  J.  N,  Grouse, 

My    associates    in    founding    and    carrying 
forward   tt\e    Chicago   Kinder- 
garden    College. 

Tt\e  flutter. 
Chicago, 

10  Van-  Buren  St., 
Hug.,  1900, 


83022 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS. 


PAGE 

INTRODUCTORY vii 

BOOK  I.     THE  YOUTH  FROEBEL      .           .  1 

Chap.     I.     Early  Schooling     .  1 

Chap.    II.     Froebel  at  Jena     ...  20 

Chap.  III.     In  Pursuit  of  a  Vocation.  65 

BOOK  II.     THE    SCHOOLMASTER  FROEBEL.  84 
Chap.      I.     Froebel    as   Teacher    and 

Pupil 88 

Chap.    II.     Froebel  as  Principal    .     .  143 

Chap.  III.     The  Principal  Dethroned.  214 
Chap.  IV.     Expatriation      .... 

BOOK  III.     THE  KINDERGARDNER  FROEBEL  274 
Chap.      I.     The   Kindergarden   Con- 
ceived          279 

Chap.   II.     The   Kindergarden   Real- 
ized        294 

Chap.  III.     The  Kindergarden  Propa- 
gated    333 


INTR  OD  UC  TOR  Y. 

Not  long  before  the  close  of  his  days,  Froebel 
expressed  himself  thus  to  his  most  intimate 
friend,  Middendorf :  "  I  recognize  my  life  to  be 
a  unity  through  and  through ;  it  has  been  long 
since  any  such  life  has  appeared  among  men ; 
only  under  unusual  circumstances  has  it  been 
able  to  work  itself  out  to  its  completeness." 
One  great  whole  he  conceives  it  to  be  with  each 
part  joined  to  the  other  by  a  line  of  inner  con- 
nection ;  thus  his  principle  of  education  was  the 
deep  underlying  principle  of  his  life,  which  he 
drew  out  of  himself  and  made  real  in  his  voca- 
tion. 

Moreover,  he  holds  strongly  to  the  idea  of  de- 
velopment, the  self -unfolding  of  the  human  spirit 
into  or  toward  perfection.  The  doctrine  which 
he  applies  to  the  child  is  to  be  applied  to  his  own 
biography,  for  that  doctrine  is  at  bottom  the 
true  movement  of  his  own  soul,  as  it  realizes 
itself  in  the  events  of  his  career.  His  life  will 
not  only  illustrate  his  principle  of  the  unfolding 
of  the  child  but  will  be  seen  to  be  the  very  center 
and  source  of  that  principle ;  from  beginning  to 
end  it  shows  a  man's  own  spiritual  evolution  pro- 
jecting itself  into  his  educational  work.  Inner 
unity,  inner  development,  and  inner  connection — 

(vii) 


Viii  THE  LIFE   OF    FEOEBEL. 

the  trinity  of  Froebel's  spirit  —  will  reveal 
themselves  in  his  biography,  which  thereby  be- 
comes the  best  commentary  on  all  that  he  has 
done. 

For  the  purpose  of  keeping  this  fundamental 
fact  before  the  reader's  mind,  we  shall  throw  his 
life  into  three  grand  sweeps  or  masses  which  in- 
dicate the  chief  stages  of  his  own  development 
as  well  as  of  his  work. 

I.  THE  YOUTH  FROEBEL.    This  period  lies  be- 
tween his  birth  and  his  first  teaching  at  Frank- 
fort on  the  Main  (1782-1805).     It  is  a  time  of 
elementary  training,  of  seeking  a  vocation,   of 
wandering   from   place  to  place,   and  of  trying 
many  things.     Also  it  is  a  time  of  strong,  often 
of  harsh  discipline ;   a  time  of  inner  fermentation 
and  change ;   an  epoch  of  all  sorts  of  possibilities 
floating  into  and  out  of  his  life  —  we  may  call  him 
now  the  potential  Froebel. 

II.  THE  SCHOOLMASTER   FROEBEL.     This  pe- 
riod embraces  the  years  in  which  he  is  of  the 
school,    as   instructor,    tutor,    principal    (1805- 
1835) .     His  vocation  is  now  clear,  he  knows  him- 
self to  be  an  educator.     It  is  the  middle  period, 
preparing  him  for  the  kindergarden.     His  school 
will  succeed,  then  fail;   he  will  have  to  leave  it, 
and  to  leave  Germany,  till  he  be  completely  sep- 
arated from  it  and  from  all  his  former  work.     A 
period    of   development,    yet   of  separation  and 
estrangement   from  what  he  had  been  and  had 


INTE  OD  UC  TOR  Y.  IX 

done ;  he  is  shaken  off  from  the  school-idea  and 
made  ready  for  the  kindergarden . 

III.  THE    KlNDERGARDNER   FROEBEL.    In 

Switzerland  the  kindergarden  is  conceived,  the 
idea  is  begotten  and  born  there,  but  is  realized  in 
Germany  at  Blankenburg.  This  period  extends 
from  1835  to  1852,  to  the  end  of  Froebel's  life, 
and  it  maybe  called  the  evolution  of  the  kinder- 
garden,  which,  however,  in  a  wider  sense,  was 
evolving  all  his  days. 

Many  heroisms  we  witness  on  his  part  and  that 
of  his  followers.  A  strange  thread  of  persecu- 
tion, with  counter-strokes  of  destiny,  runs 
through  his  career,  often  giving  to  it  an  JEschy- 
lean  tragic  tinge.  A  man  of  suffering  and  of 
perverse  fatalities,  yet  of  courage  and  enthusiasm 
unparalleled ;  he  has  the  extraordinary  power  of 
imparting  to  his  disciples  a  religious  fervor  of 
faith  and  a  sacred  devotion  to  his  cause.  While 
here,  his  life  was  of  the  humblest;  no  station,  no 
great  place  in  the  public  eye,  no  patronage  of  the 
mighty  fell  to  his  lot ;  still  it  looks  now  as  if  his 
may  turn  out  the  most  important  life  in  the 
history  of  modern  education. 

My  purpose  is  to  show  Froebel  the  educator, 
and  specially  Froebel  the  founder  of  the  kinder- 
garden.  But  at  the  same  time  I  shall  try  to 
reveal  Froebel  the  man,  in  all  his  strength  and 
weakness  —  an  ideal  soul  of  transcendent  insight 
and  consecration  to  a  noble  cause,  yet  burdened 


X  THE  LIFE    OF    FEOEBEL. 

with  his  full  share  of  foibles,  follies,  wrongs, 
and  even  sins.  Only  thus  can  I  bring  to  light 
his  truly  human  greatness,  which  must  be  seen 
in  his  rising  above  his  own  limits.  No  man  was 
ever  smitten  more  frequently  or  more  remorse- 
lessly by  the  fates  of  his  own  deed  than  Froebel , 
and  no  man  ever  rose  oftener  to  his  feet  again 
after  the  blow.  Nothing  could  put  him  down, 
not  even  himself.  Thus  his  life  will  have  its 
lesson  parallel  with  his  educational  doctrine. 


Book 


CHAPTER  FIRST. 

EARLY  SCHOOLING. 

A  very  important  school  Froebel  deemed  his 
own  life,  to  whose  past  course  he  often  returned 
to  take  his  bearings  for  the  future.  In  writing 
his  autobiography,  he  says  his  aim  was  '«  to  trace 
the  connection  between  my  earlier  and  later  life," 
in  which  connection  he  firmly  believed  as  the 
inner  bond  of  all  his  days.  This  return  upon 
himself  showed  that  "  my  earlier  life  was  for  me 
the  means  of  understanding  my  later  "  —  he  had 
always  to  go  back  in  order  to  go  forward.  And 

(i) 


2  THE    LIFE    OF    FROEBEL. 

more  deeply  still,  "my  own  individual  life  be- 
came to  me  the  key  of  the  universal  life  "  in 
man ,  in  hum anity .  ( 1 ) 

Life,  then,  has  been  his  true  university,  to 
which  he  has  often  to  come  back  for  a  course  of 
study  in  himself  —  the  very  hardest  lesson  to 
learn,  and  sometimes  never  learned  at  all.  With 
this  brief  overture  faintly  sounding  in  our  ears, 
we  may  catch  the  key-note  of  all  that  follows. 

The  present  chapter  carries  the  youth  Froe- 
bel  forward  till  he  enters  Jena  University  when 
he  was  seventeen  years  old.  Infancy,  childhood, 
boyhood  are  here  set  forth,  with  their  possibili- 
ties, which  become  realities  in  later  life.  The 
first  stage  of  the  potential  Froebel,  as  we  have 
named  him  in  this  Book ;  it  shows  the  far-off  un- 
conscious preparation  of  the  child  for  the  work 
of  the  old  man. 

I. 

The  Child   at  Home. 

Friedrich  Wilhelm  August  Froebel  has  re- 
corded that  he  was  born  on  the  21st  day  of  April, 
1782,  in  Oberweissbach,  a  village  of  the  Thur- 
ingian  Forest,  belonging  to  the  small  principal- 
ity of  Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt,  Germany.  His 
father  was  pastor  of  a  district  containing  5,000 
souls,  scattered  among  six  or  seven  villages,  the 
care  of  which  kept  him  very  busy,  without  much 


EARLY  SCHOOLING.  3 

time  to  look  after  his  own  children,  had  he  been 
so  inclined.  His  family  is  said  to  have  originally 
come  from  Holland,  though  it  seems  to  have  lost 
all  connection  with  that  country.  (2) 

Frederick  (thus  we  shall  call  him  henceforth) 
at  the  age  of  nine  months  lost  his  mother,  an 
event  which  had  an  important  influence  upon  his 
whole  life.  The  man  who  above  all  others  has 
glorified  the  calling  of  motherhood,  had  no 
mother  himself,  even  in  the  farthest  reach  of  his 
memory ;  once  only  in  an  early  letter  he  speaks 
of  her  '«  last  loving  look."  But  her  real  ab- 
sence caused  him  to  create  her  presence  in  an 
ideal  mother  who  is  the  central  figure  of  his 
greatest  book,  the  Mother  Play-songs,  where  she 
undergoes  a  kind  of  saintly  canonization,  while 
the  father  in  that  same  book  appears  twice  or 
thrice  just  to  show  his  superfluity.  The  picture 
of  the  mother  often  returned  to  Froebel  in  later 
years ;  in  fact,  she  becomes  the  educational  cen- 
ter of  the  last  period  of  his  life,  in  which  he,  an 
old  man,  goes  back  to  his  infancy  and  erects  the 
greatest  of  all  monuments  to  the  mother  whom 
he  neyer  knew. 

Having  no  mother  and  almost  no  father,  he 
falls  to  the  care  of  servants  and  of  his  brothers 
who  are  older.  Four  of  these  brothers  are  men- 
tioned, two  of  whom,  August  (who  died  early) 
and  Traugott  (who  became  a  physician),  have 
little  to  do  with  his  career;  but  the  other  two, 


THE    LIFE    OF    FROEBEL. 

Christian  and  Chris toph,  are  deeply  woven  into 
his  life.  Especially  did  he  love  Christoph  who 
both  br other ed  him  and  mothered  him,  protecting 
him  outwardly  and  comforting  him  inwardly  amid 
his  trials.  These  trials  culminated  in  a  new  per- 
son entering  the  household  —  the  step-mother. 
The  pastor  took  a  second  wife,  who  soon  had  a 
son  of  her  own,  and  who  became  not  only  indif- 
ferent but  averse  to  her  little  step-son.  Such 
were  the  circumstances  of  the  child  Froebel  as  he 
entered  the  kindergarden  age,  which  he  will 
never  forget,  and  which  will  impel  him,  as  his 
final  terrestrial  work,  to  come  to  the  rescue  of 
those  suffering  as  he  did,  whereby  he  becomes  a 
kind  of  redeemer  for  the  little  child. 

Frederick  was  now  about  four  years  old,  and 
often  quite  alone  in  the  world.  Through  his 
step-mother's  conduct  he  was  isolated  from  the 
family,  and  made  to  feel  that  he  was  a  stranger 
in  his  own  home.  Apparently  his  older  brothers 
were  absent  a  good  deal  from  the  new  household, 
so  that  he  had  no  longer  their  sympathy  and 
protection.  So  he  early  turned  inward  and  kept 
company  with  himself,  whence  came  the  habit  of 
introspection  which  went  with  him  through  life. 
The  proverbial  character  of  the  step-mother  was 
repeated  in  Froebel' s  experience,  he  was  the 
boy  Cinderella  of  the  German  fairy-tale.  Still, 
while  almost  driven  from  the  home,  he  was  strictly 
forbidden  to  go  beyond  the  yard  and  garden, 


EARLY  SCHOOLING.  5 

inclosed  by  fences,  hedges  and  houses,  of  the 
parental  dwelling.  Not  only  alone,  but  also  in  a 
prison  the  child  has  to  occupy  his  young  days. 

Thus  his  expanding  life  seemed  to  be  shut  in 
on  all  sides  by  lofty  mountain-walls,  which  he 
could  not  climb  over.  An  inner  protest  against 
all  limitation  and  prescription  could  not  help  ris- 
ing within  him,  a  tendency  which  will  leave  its 
strong  mark  on  his  future  thought  and  life. 
Moreover,  in  the  last  period  of  his  activity  he  will 
return  to  his  own  kindergarden  age,  and  will  do 
his  share  toward  rendering  impossible  forever 
such  treatment  as  he  received  during  his  child- 
hood. The  isolation  and  suffering  of  these  early 
years  had  no  small  part  in  calling  forth  his  grand 
remedial  deed,  the  kindergarden.  So  even  as  a 
little  child  we  see  Froebel  in  training  for  the 
work  of  his  old  age,  and  furthermore  we  catch  a 
glimpse  of  that  thread  of  "  connection  between 
my  earlier  and  later  life  ' '  oiFwhich  he  puts  so 
much  stress. 

The  child  grew  forward  to  school  age.  The 
religious  character  of  the  family  was  of  the  strict 
old-German  orthodox  Protestant  type,  and  was 
in  accordance  with  all  the  other  restraints  put 
upon  the  boy.  Here  too  rose  a  secret  protest, 
against  the  pastor  as  well  as  against  the  father  — 
a  protest  which  we  can  trace  winding  through  his 
future  career  in  his  relations  to  the  established 
church.  One  thing  is  certain :  not  for  the  world 


THE    LIFE    OF    FEOEBEL. 

will  he  follow  the  calling  of  his  parent  and  be  a 
clergyman ;  still  he  will  choose  an  allied  vocation, 
for  him  the  deeper  and  more  compelling,  that  of 
educator.  Moreover,  we  shall  see  later  that 
under  his  influence  his  two  great  friends  and 
co-workers,  Middendorf  and  Langethal,  had  their 
careers  deflected  from  theology  into  pedagogy. 

The  father,  however,  taught  him  to  read, 
though  with  great  difficulty,  for  the  one  was  not 
a  good  teacher  and  the  other  was  not  a  good 
pupil.  One  result  was  that  the  father  regarded 
Frederick  as  a  hopelessly  stupid  boy,  totally  un- 
worthy of  an  university  education,  and  the  son 
for  a  time  shrank  back  into  himself  with  a  dis- 
belief in  his  own  talent.  Froebel  confesses  that 
it  wa8  hard  work  for  him  to  learn  to  read,  and 
this  comports  with  what  we  know  of  him  later. 
Human  speech  was  his  stumbling  block,  in  his 
own  mother-tongue  he  never  could  utter  himself 
adequately,  his  best  was  another  kind  of  expres- 
sion. Over  and  over  again  he  tried  his  hand  at 
Latin  without  success ;  grammar,  the  organiza- 
tion of  speech,  he  could  never  make  his  own 
fully,  as  we  see  from  his  frequent  tirades  about 
this  study,  as  well  as  from  many  a  peculiar  turn 
in  writings. 

From  his  father's  instruction  young  Frederick 
passed  to  the  village  schools  where  he  acquired 
not  very  thoroughly  the  rudiments  of  an  ordi- 
nary education.  From  his  own  account  we  have 


EARLY  SCHOOLING.  7 

to  'infer  that  he  belonged  to  the  class  of  bad 
boys.  He  was  defiant,  disobedient,  and  told 
falsehoods  to  get  out  of  scrapes ;  he  claims,  how- 
ever, that  he  was  made  naughty  by  being  always 
misjudged  and  mistreated.  As  he  had  the  name 
of  an  imp,  he  was  determined  to  have  the  game. 
His  was  a  destructive  nature :  "I  destroyed 
everything  around  me,  whatever  I  wished  to  in- 
vestigate." Very  significant  too  is  it  to  observe 
by  what  means  he  sought  afterwards  to  overcome 
just  this  destructive  spirit  in  the  child  through 
the  kindergarden. 

So  we  see  the  boy  in  a  secret  rebellion  against 
the  established  order  in  home,  school,  and 
church;  the  step-mother  ruled  his  world,  and 
his  business  was  to  thwart  her  in  every  possible 
way.  She  was  the  Law  and  the  Gospel;  could 
the  child  help  turning  against  the  Law  and  the 
Gospel?  Still  he  had  love  in  his  heart  for  his 
brother  Christoph,  in  whom  he  seemed  to  see  re- 
embodied  his  true  mother.  He  records  that  this 
brother,  explaining  to  him  once  the  sexual  differ- 
ence in  plant-life,  opened  the  door  of  the  great 
temple  of  Nature,  into  which  his  longing  spirit 
entered  and  found  peace,  remaining  there  with 
few  interruptions  to  the  end  of  his  days. 

But  what  means  this  noise  of  hot  discussion 
which  the  child  hears  between  father  and  brother 
Christoph?  The  latter  has  just  returned  from 
the  University  of  Jena,  where  he  has  been  study- 


8  THE    LIFE    OF   FEOEBEL. 

ing  theology,  and  has  brought  back  new  views 
which  the  old  pastor  deems  the  quintessence  of 
heresy  and  damnable  innovation.  Of  course  the 
boy  listens  with  intense  eagerness  and  under- 
stands the  general  bearing  of  the  dispute,  since 
it  lay  just  in  the  line  of  his  deepest  experience. 
He  cannot  help  taking  sides  with  his  brother, 
whom  he  loves,  and  who  in  addition  now  voices 
the  secret  protest  and  aspiration  of  his  own  soul. 
And  that  University  of  Jena — what  a  wonderful 
ideal  place  it  must  be,  with  its  freedom  in  con- 
trast to  this  cramped  existence !  Dimly  a  hope 
has  been  born  in  his  heart  that  he,  the  dull  boy, 
will  yet  see  Jena,  in  spite  of  father  and  step- 
mother, who  have  thrust  him  down  into  the 
limbo  of  everlasting  stupidity. 

Meanwhile  he  has  reached  the  age  of  ten  years, 
and  his  prisoned  spirit  is  longing  for  some  re- 
lease. "  I  wished  to  escape  from  this  unhappy 
state  of  things,  my  elder  brothers  I  considered 
fortunate  in  being  away  from  home . ' '  Christoph 
again  appears  at  the  right  moment  and  gives  to 
the  despairing  boy  consolation  and  protection  - 
a  providential  appearance  vividly  recalling  their 
common  mother  as  the  guardian  angel  over  both 
of  them. 

Still  another  providential  appearance  on  the 
maternal  side  comes  down  into  Frederick's  life 
at  this  time,  that  of  uncle  Hoffman,  a  clergy- 
man of  Stadt-Ilm,  and  brother  of  the  deceased 


EAELY  SCHOOLING.  9 

mother.  This  kind-hearted  man,  on  a  visit  to 
Oberweissbach,  evidently  saw  the  whole  situation ; 
when  he  returns  home,  he  begs  by  letter  that  the 
boy  Frederick  be  sent  to  him  for  an  indefinite 
stay.  The  father  readily  consented,  and  the 
step-mother  surely  would  not  object.  And  now 
we  may  see  with  sympathetic  glance  the  youth 
springing  across  the  paternal  threshold  in  uncon- 
cealed joy,  and  leaving  behind  him  that  whole 
step-motherly  world  with  eager  face  turned 
toward  a  new  home. 

And  yet  we  cannot  leave  the  step-mother  with- 
out a  sympathetic  glance.  Poor  woman !  what 
an  immortality  for  that  simple  Tliuringian  coun- 
try-girl who  could  not  get  along  with  her 
step-son!  For  he  happened  to  be  Frederick 
Froebel,  the  greatest  benefactor  of  the  little 
child  that  ever  lived,  and  he  has  fully  reported 
her  ill  treatment  of  him  as  a  little  child.  The 
result  is  her  name  has  gone  through  the  wide 
world,  and  has  descended  thus  far  through  time, 
and  is  destined  to  go  down  through  untold  ages, 
leaving  behind  it  a  line  of  sighs  and  tears  and  low 
maledictions  from  thousands  upon  thousands  of 
tender-hearted  kindergardners  who  read  his 
story.  Dear  me !  what  a  destiny  for  a  woman, 
who  violates  the  trust  given  her,  neglecting  to 
obey  the  call,  when  it  has  come  to  her,  to  be  a 
mother  to  a  motherless  child ! 

Still  let  us  in  fairness  think  of  her  difficulties. 


10  THE    LIFE    OF    FROEBEL. 

Not  an  easy  position  is  hers;  the  child  has 
neighbors,  and  relatives,  and  elder  brothers,  who 
cannot  quite  let  him  forget  that  he  has  a  step- 
mother. Every  word  and  act  of  hers  are  sure 
to  be  prejudged,  and  her  every  correction  of  the 
child,  -though  deserved,  is  apt  to  be  ascribed  to 
her  want  of  maternal  feeling  for  her  ward.  And 
thou,  my  reader,  who  art  some  gentle  kinder- 
gardner  probably,  wilt  do  well  to  feel  a  throb  of 
sympathy  with  that  step-mother,  for  thou  mayst 
some  time  have  to  stand  in  her  place. 

Now  we  can  turn  to  our  boy  Frederick,  who 
has  by  this  time  arrived  at  his  uncle's  in  Stadt- 
Ilm,  out  of  the  reach  of  his  step-mother,  which 
event  took  place  toward  the  end  of  the  year 
1792. 

II. 

The  Boy  at  Uncle  Hoffmann's. 

Very  different  was  the  atmosphere  of  the  two 
households ;  in  the  one  was  severity,  in  the  other 
kindness;  the  father  misunderstood  and  dis- 
trusted his  son,  the  uncle  recognized  and  trusted 
his  nephew.  There  restraint,  here  freedom; 
there  a  step-mother  spurned  him  from  her  pres- 
ence, here  a  motherly  spirit  for  the  first  time 
took  him  up  into  its  bosom.  When  he  passed 
outside  of  his  new  home,  the  mountain-walls 
which  before  penned  him  in  had  vanished  as  in  a 
dream;  *'  I  could  go  into  my  uncle's  gardens  if 


EARLY  SCHOOLING.  11 

I  liked,  but  I  was  also  at  liberty  to  roam  all  over 
the  neighborhood."  Great  indeed  was  the  dif- 
ference between  here  and  there,  so  great  that 
the  boy  at  once  began  to  pass  from  protest  and 
the  deepest  tension  of  spirit  into  harmony  with 
his  environing  world. 

Of  course  he  must  go  to  school,  that  was 
probably  a  chief  object  of  the  uncle  in  taking 
the  boy  to  himself.  He  had  always  been  a  soli- 
tary youth,  depending  on  himself  chiefly  for 
society ;  but  now  he  is  suddenly  plumped  into  a 
living  roistering  mass  pf  school-boys,  forty  in 
number,  of  his  own  age.  He  must  henceforth 
associate  with  his  fellows  and  take  part  in  their 
sports.  He  was  deeply  humiliated  to  find  that 
he  was  physically  unable  to  cope  with  the  rest  in 
strength  or  agility.  But  he  bravely  began  to 
overcome  his  defects,  and  made  the  most  of  his 
opportunities.  Confidence  in  himself  he  was 
getting  after  long  suppression;  surely  there  is 
something  in  the  lad,  if  he  can  thus  struggle  with 
and  mount  above  his  limits.  And  all  his  life 
will  give  great  prominence  to  the  physical 
opment  of  the  pupil,  remembering  his  ow 
insufficient  training  in  this  respect. 

Reconciliation  seems  now  to  be  the  trend  of 
our  Frederick  under  the  loving  care  of  uncle 
Hoffmann;  reconciled  he  is  becoming  with  the 
home,  with  the  school,  —  yes,  with  the  church. 
* 4 1  especially  enjoyed  the  hours  devoted  to  re- 


12  THE    LIFE    OF   F ROE  BEL. 

ligious  instruction;  '  he  delighted  in  the  ser- 
mons of  his  uncle,  which  were  "  mild,  gentle  and 
full  of  sweet  charity;  "  somewhat  different,  evi- 
dently, from  those  of  his  father.  His  heart 
would  melt  and  he  would  burst  into  tears  when 
the  lesson  "touched  upon  the  life,  the  work, 
and  the  character  of  Jesus."  He  resolved  to 
lead  a  similar  life. 

Very  deep  run  these  notes  of  harmony  with 
the  established  order  around  him,  in  striking  con- 
trast to  the  discords  of  his  previous  life.  He  'is 
now  becoming  truly  ethical,  drinking  in  from  his 
surroundings  those  virtues  which  form  the  tissue 
of  all  character,  and  which  mount  up  for  their 
highest  source  to  the  institutional  world. 

He  gives  an  account  of  the  school  training  at 
Stadt-Ilm,  the  residence  of  uncle  Hoffmann. 
Reading,  writing,  arithmetic  and  religion  (the 
four  fes,  in  this  case),  were  "  the  subjects  best 
taught;  "  but  Latin  comes  in  for  censure, 
"  being  miserably  taught  and  worse  learned." 
Still,  from  its  study  he  got  something,  namely, 
that  he  could  get  nothing  * '  by  such  a  method  of 
teaching."  So  he  blames  the  method,  but  Latin 
grammar  is  Latin  grammar  under  any  instruction, 
and  will  not  put  down  its  carefully  adjusted  bars 
to  let  Froebel  jump  in  with  a  little  playful  leap. 
But  "  arithmetic  was  a  favorite  study  of  mine," 
and  in  general  he  had  a  quantitive  or  mathemat- 
ical bent  in  his  mind.  Music  lessons,  too,  he 


EARLY  SCHOOLING.  13 

had,  in  singing  and  in  playing  the  piano,  "but 
wjthout  result."  We  are,  however,  inclined  to 
think  that  the  musical  side  of  his  nature  received 
a  very  considerable  development  at  this  time; 
his  own  mood  and  his  environment  fostered  it, 
expressed  it  in  a  way,  though  he  may  not  have 
learned  much  about  the  theory  of  music.  Cer- 
tainly a  musical  accompaniment  runs  through  his 
life  and  his  work  to  the  very  close,  which  harmo- 
nious attunement  naturally  belongs  to  his  uncle's, 
and  not  to  his  father's,  surroundings. 

As  to  discipline,  he  claims   that   he    and    his 
school-fellows  lived  ' '  without_cpntro1 , "  yet  none  ^ 
of   us    were  ever    "guilty   of   a  really  culpablex 
action."     Good  boys,   indeed,  good  by  nature, 
not  made  bad  by  man,:   a  note  having  a  sound 
like    that   of    The    Education    of  Man,    which 
indeed   belongs,  in  its  composition,  to  the  same 
period  as  the  Autobiography. 

On  a  similar  line  note  the  following  contrast : 
*«  We  had  two  teachers,  one  of  whom  was  strict  \ 
and  pedantic,  the  other   was    kind-hearted    and  \ 
free,"  i.  e.  he  let  us  do  as  we  pleased.     Result:     \ 
"  the  first  never  had    any    influence    over   us,"     I 
though  he  sought  to  make  us  accomplish  some-   / 
thing,  while  "  the  second  could  do  with  us  what-/ 
ever  he  pleased,"  though  he  did  not  please  to 
make  us  do  anything.     Then  note  another  con- 
trast, not  between  teachers   now,    but   between 
preachers  :    "  My  uncle,  the  principal  minister  of 


14  THE    LIFE    OF    Fit OE BEL. 

Stadt-Ilm,  was  gentle  and  soft-hearted,"  never 
reproving  anybody;  but  "  the  other  minister  was 
rigid  even  to  harshness,  often  scolding  and  order- 
ing us  about,"  just  like  my  father  at  Oberweiss- 
bach  —  let  him  be  confounded  (the  minister  of 
course,  not  the  father). 

Such  was  the  spirit  of  re-action  in  the  boy 
against  authority,  which  had  been,  no  doubt, 
formal,  and  sometimes  harsh.  This  spirit  will 
remain  long  with  Froebel,  he  will  carry  it  into  his 
school  at  Keilhau,  where  it  will  give  rise  to  one  of 
the  deepest  contradictions  of  his  life,  under  which 
indeed  that  school  will  sink  till  it  passes  out  of 
his  hands.  For  Froebel  as  principal  will  assert 
his  authority  in  the  most  absolute,  yea,  tyrrani- 
cal  manner,  but  will  resent  all  authority  and  pre- 
scription when  exercised  by  the  subordinate 
teacher  over  the  pupil.  The  hardest  lesson  of 
his  life  will  be  to  find  out  what  to  do  with  the 
established  and  the  prescribed,  and  how  to  make 
them  not  only  agree  with,  but  to  contribute  to, 
freedom.  But  this  is  a  chapter  which  lies  far 
ahead,  though  it  has  its  roots  in  the  period  which 
we  are  considering  just  now. 

The  time  of  his  school  education  drew  to  a 
close,  which  was  fitly  celebrated  and  rounded  out 
by  his  Confirmation.  For  this  impressive  cere- 
mony he  was  prepared  by  his  uncle,  who  thus 
brought  him  into  union  with  the  Church,  from 
which  he  never  afterward  formally  separated  „ 


EARLY  SCHOOLING.  15 

Still  this  institution  had  in  him  from  now  onward 
two  representatives,  quite  opposite,  yet  both  his 
kindred,  both  of  them  pastors,  his  father  and  his 
uncle.     Thus  the  religious  dualism  of  his  Mfe  lay 
in  his  blood,  coming  to  him  by  inheritance  from 
both  parents,  of  whom  his  heart  leaned  unswerv- 
ingly to  his    mother,  who    had    now  become  to 
him  a    definite   ideal    image   through    his    uncle 
Hoffmann  as  well  as  through  his  brother  Chris- 
toph.     But  the  other  strand  of  his  nature,   the 
paternal,  claimed  him  as  heir  too ;   he  could  be 
rigid,  imperious,  yea,  despotic  almost  to  the  sac- 
rifice of  the  person.     Whereof    much  hereafter. 
But  he  has  now  finished,  the  seal  of  manhood  is 
given  by  the  rite  of  Confirmation,  which   is  ac- 
knowledged to  have  a  natural  connection  with  the 
period  of  adolescence.     Out  of    home   and  the 
school  into  the  battle  of  the  world  is  the  transi- 
tion, for  which  battle,  however,  he  must  be  pre- 
pared.    Accordingly  we   are  now  to  see  Froebel 
beginning  his  search  for  a  vocation,   and  going 
through  his  first  trial  therein. 

III. 

What  Shall   be  Done  with  the  Boy? 

Such  is  the  difficult  question  now  presenting 
itself  to  Frederick  and  his  father.  After  five 
years'  absence  he  is  home  again  for  the  purpose 
of  making  a  new  start  in  a  new  direction.  Away 


16  THE    LIFE    OF   FKOEBEL. 

from  parent  and  from  uncle  he  is  to  grapple  with 
the  practical  world ;  he  must  learn  some  busi- 
ness— ;What? 

It  is  settled  that  he  is  not  to  study  at  the 
University  and  follow  one  of  the  learned  profes- 
sions—  settled  it  was,  he  declares,  by  his  step- 
mother, who  was  afraid  that  her  own  boy,  Carl 
Poppo,  might  not  otherwise  have  the  means  from 
the  paternal  estate  for  a  University  education. 
Carl  Poppo,  now  a  lad  of  eleven  (born  in  1786), 
had  shown  decided  ability,  at  least  to  the  eye  of 
his  mother,  and  was  an  emphatic  contrast  to  his 
older  half-brother,  Frederick,  whom  all  knew  to 
be  a  stupid  boy,  unworthy  and  really  unsuscept- 
ible of  any  higher  training  than  he  had  already 
attained. 

Here  again  rose  a  secret  protest,  and  the  dim 
resolution  to  thwart  the  step-mother's  plan  of 
keeping  him  away  from  the  University.  For 
the  thought  of  Jena  had  entered  deep  into  his 
mind,  he  had  heard  of  it  and  the  great  men  there 
all  his  life ;  he  loved  to  pore  over  the  learned 
books  of  his  brother  Christoph  with  a  vague 
longing  for  knowledge.  He  too  was  going  to 
be  a  student  of  Jena  some  day  —  but  how?  At 
present  no  road  seemed  to  lead  thitherward,  but 
let  us  work  and  wait  for  the  future  in  one  of 
her  auspicious  moods;  perhaps  she  may  give  us 
a  surprise  in  this  matter,  as  is  her  way  often- 
times. 


EAELY  SCHOOLING.  17 

But  meanwhile  something  must  be  tried,  for 
the  father  is  urgent  to  get  the  boy  settled  and  be 
done  with  him.  Various  positions  were  sug- 
gested, till  one  was  found  acceptable  to  all  par- 
ties. Frederick  in  1797,  being  fifteen  years  and 
a  half  old,  was  apprenticed  to  a  forester,  with 
whom  he  was  to  stay  two  years. 

The  great  fact  during  this  period  is  the  eager- 
ness with  which  he  prosecuted  his  studies.  He 
worked  especially  at  botany,  as  a  good  oppor- 
tunity offered;  but  mathematics  and  languages 
were  not  neglected.  He  was  left  to  himself  a 
good  deal,  and  used  his  spare  time  profitably; 
living  in  the  forest  and  contemplating  plant-life,  he 
entered  into  a  religious  communion  with  Nature, 
which  displaced  the  religion  of  the  Church,  in 
part  at  least. 

Froebel  puts  stress  upon  the  fact  that  during 
this  time  he  first  saw  a  drama,  which  was  given 
by  a  company  of  strolling  actors.  The  per- 
formance took  strong  hold  upon  him,  for  a  while 
he  seems  to  have  been  stage-struck.  He  sought 
the  acquaintance  of  the  actors,  and  talked  with 
them  about  their  glorious  profession ;  * '  perhaps 
I  expressed  a  wish  that  I  might  become  a  mem- 
ber of  such  a  company."  But  one  of  the  actors 
told  the  misery  of  their  life,  and  quite  disillu- 
sioned him.  Still  the  dramatic  element  was 
roused  in  him,  and  satisfied  a  certain  need  of  his 
soul.  It  will  remain  with  him  in  some  form  to 


OF   TBK 

UNIVERSITT 


18  THE    LIFE    OF    FEOEBEL. 

the  last;  he  will  employ  action  for  the  purpose 
of  education,  and  in  the  play-song  he  will  create 
a  little  drama  for  the  child. 

The  period  elapsed,  the  apprenticeship  came 
to  an  end.  The  forester  wished  to  retain  him, 
but  he  would  not  stay,  having  outgrown  the 
business.  Then  came  some  trouble,  the  forester 
complained  to  the  father,  the  step-mother  echo- 
ing his  bad  opinion  of  the  boy.  But  Frederick 
was  able  to  clear  himself  of  all  charges,  and  to 
bring  home  a  counter  accusation  against  the  for- 
ester, by  invoking  the  help  of  brother  Christoph. 
The  outcome  is  that  our  Frederick,  now  seven- 
teen years  old,  is  again  under  the  paternal  roof, 
where  he  could  not,  however,  feel  very  comfort- 
able. For  that  father  had  sent  him  off  to  the 
forester  two  years  before  with  the  following 
farewell:  "  Never  come  back  to  me  with  any 
complaint,  for  I  shall  not  listen  to  you,  but  con- 
sider you  in  the  wrong  beforehand." 

Again  the  question  springs  up  in  that  house- 
hold: What  shall  be  done  with  the  boy,  the 
naughty,  superfluous  boy?  Parents  are  deter- 
mined not  to  do  the  right  thing,  for  he  is  just 
the  one  of  all  the  sons  who  ought  to  be  sent  to 
the  University,  having  in  himself  the  deepest 
aspiration  for  learning.  But  he  is  set  down  as 
the  family  dunce  by  the  father,  and  besides,  as 
the  bad  boy  by  the  step-mother.  Incapable  and 
unworthy  of  the  University,  declare  the  parents; 


EARLY  SCHOOLING.  19 

so  let  the  other  sons  be  educated  at  Jena,  not 
Frederick  the  blockhead  and  general  nuisance. 
But  where  now  are  those  other  sons,  Traugott 
and  Christoph,  and  bright  little  Carl  Poppo? 
All  have  vanished  into  the  night  of  oblivion 
except  when  their  names  are  passingly  read  in 
the  flare  of  light  flashed  from  the  illuminated 
fame  of  their  stupid  brother. 

Such  is  the  ironical  game  which  Fate  has 
started  to  play  in  that  household,  where  just  now 
reigns  the  grand  puzzle:  What  shall  be  done 
with  the  boy?  He  has  comeback  again  on  our 
hands,  that  impossible  boy,  Fritz  Froebel,  a 
juvenile  superfluity,  if  there  ever  was  one. 
Wait ;  as  the  parents  are  at  their  wits'  end,  doing 
nothing,  or  bent  on  doing  the  wrong  thing,  Prov- 
idence who  has  work  for  the  boy  will  take  him  in 
hand,  and  by  the  little  turn  of  a  petty  event 
will  suddenly  whisk  him  forthright  into  the 
world  —  whither?  To  the  University  of  Jena. 


CHAPTER    SECOND. 

FROEBEL  AT  JENA. 

In  the  present  chapter  the  object  is  to  set 
forth,  as  fully  as  is  now  possible,  the  most  im- 
portant period  in  Froebel's  earlier  life,  namely 
his  stay  at  the  University  of  Jena.  It  was  truly 
his  germinal  epoch ;  he  received  here  more  seed- 
thoughts  for  his  future  development  than  at  any 
other  time.  He  was  young,  being  but  seventeen 
years  old  when  he  first  arrived,  and  he  remained 
two  years.  Young,  but  very  receptive  and  im- 
pressionable ;  he  seems  not  to  have  fully  known 
how  much  he  did  take  up  into  himself  out  of 
that  Jena  abode. 

At  this  time  Jena  with  its  University  was  the 
very  center  of  the  intellectual  life  of  Germany. 
Nay,  we  may  go  further  and  say  that  it  stood  in 
(20) 


FEOEBEL   AT  JENA.  21 

the  heart  of  the  mightiest  spiritual  movement  of 
the  last  two  centuries.  The  most  splendid  sun- 
burst in  philosophy  which  the  ages  have  wit- 
nessed, with  the  possible  exception  of  that 
ancient  one  in  Athens,  was  then  taking  place  at 
Jena.  A  few  miles  across  the  country  lay 
Weimar,  governed  by  the  same  ruler  and  con- 
trolled by  the  same  spirit;  there  the  greatest  lit- 
erary movement  of  our  modern  era  was  in  the 
process  of  fulfillment.  Art  and  science  felt  the 
same  regenerating  breath  of  a  new  epoch. 

Into  this  marvelous  creative  energy  of  the  time 
the  boy  Frederick  Froebel  is  suddenly  plunged  at 
its  fountain-head.  Now  we  hold  that  he  absorbed 
much  of  this  spirit  by  living  in  its  atmosphere 
and  associating  with  the  students.  It  was  at  Jena 
that  he  became  deeply  inoculated  with  the  Teu- 
tonic renascence  which  produced  Goethe  and 
Schiller  in  poetry;  Kant,  Fichte,  Schelling,  and 
Hegel  in  philosophy ;  Mozart  and  Beethoven  in 
music.  More  truly  was  his  the  educational  soul 
of  this  movement  than  that  of  any  other  man ; 
the  spirit  of  Jena  at  this  time  was  indeed  the 
guiding  principle,  more  or  less  unconscious,  of  his 
whole  life,  undoubtedly  with  many  fluctuations. 

Froebel  has  not  told  us  in  his  autobiographical 
writings,  with  any  degree  of  completeness,  what 
he  obtained  at  Jena.  For  reasons  to  be  hereafter 
stated,  the  University  was  a  very  unpleasant 
memory.  Nor  has  any  writer  on  Froebel  within 


22  THE    LIFE    OF    FEOEBEL, 

our  knowledge  adequately  appreciated  the  impor- 
tance of  this  period  in  his  spirit's  history.  (3) 
Accordingly  it  becomes  the  duty  of  the  present 
biography  at  this  point  to  reproduce  Jena  during 
the  years  1799-1801,  at  least  in  a  brief  outline. 
For  the  spiritual  nineteenth  century  opened  just 
there  more  fully  and  brilliantly  than  at  any  other 
spot  on  the  earth,  and  the  youth  Froebel  was 
present  during  these  two  years.  Yes,  the  simple- 
hearted  Thuringian  country-boy  is  there,  an 
infant  as  it  were,  a  very  suckling  on  the  breast  of 
the  Time-Spirit,  whose  mother's  milk  he  is  draw- 
ing in  quite  unconsciously,  taking  it  up  into  the 
fiber  of  his  being  that  he  become  the  educator  of 
the  new  epoch,  especially  of  the  infants  thereof. 
For  such  work  is  she  rearing  him  with  a  peculiar 
maternal  nurture,  truly  that  of  the  creative  genius, 
which  she  alone  can  foster ;  not  to  be  a  learned 
man  simply,  not  to  be  an  erudite  professor  at  the 
University  delving  in  the  library-dust  of  the  past, 
is  she  training  him,  but  to  be  a  soldier  of  the 
future  standing  courageously  in  the  front  rank  of 
the  coming  battle  with  the  Powers  of  Darkness, 
the  much-suffering  man !  So,  when  the  moment 
comes,  she  flings  him  from  her  breast  at  Jena  with 
what  seems  an  unmotherly  harshness,  such  being 
usually  her  way  of  training  her  favored  baby  to 
his  approaching  task.  But  enough  of  this  pro- 
logueing,  let  the  youth  himself  now  step 
forward. 


FEOEBEL  AT  JENA.  23 

I. 

Arrival  at  Jena. 

Frederick,  having  returned  to  the  parental 
roof,  was  again  in  deep  despondency.  The 
wings  of  his  spirit  which  had  been  for  five  years 
fluttering  in  the  genial  sunshine  of  his  uncle's 
house  and  had  spread  out  in  free  though  solitary 
flight  at  the  forester's,  drooped  and  fell  when  he 
came  into  the  presence  of  his  father  and  his 
step-mother.  But  soon  the  unseen  hand  was  ex- 
tended to  him  in  his  gloom ;  he  was  sent  on  an 
errand  to  that  place  to  which,  above  any  other, 
he  wished  to  go,  and  ought  to  go. 

His  brother  Traugott  was  studying  medicine  at 
Jena  and  needed  money.  Frederick,  who  had 
nothing  special  to  do  at  home,  was  sent  with 
the  funds.  Great  must  have  been  his  relief  as 
he  passed  out  of  the  door  of  his  father's  house 
.bound  for  the  University  of  which  he  had  heard 
so  much  in  the  family. 

His  favorite  brother  Christoph  had  studied  there 
several  years  before  this  time,  finishing  his  course 
in  theology.  This  brother  shared  in  the  new 
spirit  which  had  risen  at  Jena,  and  which  was 
transforming  the  old  ecclesiastical  edifice.  Hot 
discussions  between  the  brother  and  the  father  — 
the  latter  clung  to  the  old  school  of  theology — - 
Froebel  had  heard  in  his  early  boyhood.  The 


24  THE    LIFE    OF    FIWEBEL. 

names  of  Jena  and  Weimar  and  their  famous  men 
must  have  been  known  to  him.  With  what  an 
uplifted  heart  did  he  now  walk  into  that  Univer- 
sity town  to  his  brother's  quarters! 

From  the  first  he  felt  the  quickened  intellectual 
life  of  the  place,  and  longed  to  remain  for  awhile. 
His  brother  interceded  with  the  father:  only 
eight  weeks  till  the  close  of  the  summer  term ; 
let  the  boy  stay,  he  is  so  eager,  and  he  can  em- 
ploy the  time  profitably.  The  father  gave  his 
consent.  Frederick  took  lessons  in  map-draw- 
ing j  with  a  practical  outlook  upon  his  future 
calling.  The  time  passed,  he  returned  home 
with  his  brother.  His  step-mother  sneeringly 
said:  Now  you  can  say  that  you  have  gone 
through  the  University.  Somewhat  similar  was 
her  remark  to  that  of  an  American  youth  who 
had  gone  through  College:  I  went  in  at  the 
front  door,  and  was  shown  out  at  the  back  door. 

But  the  boy  was  not  to  be  deterred  by  a  sneer ; 
he  was  determined  to  go  back  where  "  my  spirit 
had  been  stimulated  on  many  lines."  He  con- 
ferred with  his  father,  who  gave  his  consent  if 
he  were  not  called  on  for  the  means.  Frederick 
possessed  a  small  inheritance  from  his  mother ;  a 
portion  of  this,  after  some  negotiation,  he  suc- 
ceeded in  getting.  So  he  is  off  once  more  for 
Jena,  helped  again,  be  it  noted,  to  his  true  destiny 
by  the  secret  outstretched  hand  of  his  mother 
bearing  a  little  gift  of  money. 


FROEBEL  AT   JENA.  25 

A  testimonial  from  his  father  attesting  his 
capacity  for  a  certain  course  of  studies  procured 
him  matriculation  without  trouble.  His  certifi- 
cate called  him  "  student  of  philosophy,"  which 
title  produced  upon  his  dreamy  receptive  nature 
a  great  impression,  and  gave  "  to  my  studies  a 
higher  relation  not  before  imagined."  Often  as 
a  boy  in  his  home  he  had  heard  from  his  elders 
that  magic  word  philosophy,  now  the  cardinal 
term  and  fact  at  Jena,  and  he  had  obtained  a 
lofty  though  vague  conception  of  its  meaning. 
The  great  Kantian  movement  was  in  full  swing, 
and  Fichte  at  Jena  was  its  chief  expositor,  whom 
brother  Christoph  must  have  often  heard  and 
mentioned.  And  he,  the  cast-off  boy,  hitherto 
not  deemed  worthy  of  a  University  education, 
was  now  a  "student  of  philosophy"  at  the 
University,  in  spite  of  father,  step-mother,  and 
seemingly  of  Fate  itself.  Very  miraculous  did 
it  all  seem  to  him. 

Still  he  did  not  attend  the  course  on  philos- 
ophy. He  was  to  be  a  practical  nian,  a  for- 
ester, or  farmer,  or  builder;  he  was  regarded  as 
less  talented  than  his  brothers,  and  so  was  not 
allowed  to  think  of  one  of  the  learned  profes- 
sions. The  lectures  which  he  heard  were  chiefly 
on  Mathematics  and  Physics ;  also  he  took  a 
course  on  Architecture  and  Surveying.  No  theo- 
retical training  was  given  him  except  a  little  in 
pure  Mathematics. 


26  THE    LIFE    OF    FROEBEL. 

Such  was  his  formal,  direct  instruction  at 
Jena ;  but  at  the  same  time  he  was  taking  an  in- 
formal, indirect  course  of  instruction  of  far 
deeper  importance.  '  *  Of  philosophical  doctrines 
only  so  much  came  to  me,"  says  he,  "  as  the 
intercourse  of  lif e  brought ;  ' '  but  the  Jena  air 
was  full  of  philosophy,  and  the  students  at  the 
dinner-table  and  in  the  beer-house  discussed  the 
great  epoch  making  Idea.  Froebel  himself  con- 
fesses: "Just  through  this  intercourse  (with 
students)  a  stimulus  in  many  directions  was  im- 
parted to  me."  Really  just  this  was  the  im- 
portant part  of  his  instruction,  though  not  laid 
down  in  the  University  curriculum,  the  part 
which  determined  his  future. 

Some  of  his  observations  on  his  studies  at 
Jena  are  interesting,  as  they  indicate  the  later 
Froebel.  « «  Always  I  had  the  power  of  seeing 
into  geometric  relations  and  those  of  planes  with 
ease  and  vividness ;  it  seemed  to  me  inexplicable 
that  every  peasant  should  not  understand  them 
at  once."  Suggestive  of  his  geometric  bent 
which  comes  out  so  strongly  in  his  kindergarden 
Gifts  is  this  passage.  The  future  mineralogist 
peeps  forth  in  the  following :  < <  I  loved  minerals, 
and  I  took  great  pains  to  comprehend  their 
nature,"  though  without  much  result  at  this 
time.  Whatever  had  unity  or  connection  laid 
hold  of  him ;  Chemistry  fascinated  him  through 
its  doctrine  of  affinities,  and  Botany  gave  him 


FEOEBEL   AT  JENA.  27 

much  satisfaction,  when  ordered  by  his  teacher's 
"  natural  system  of  plants." 

Two  ideas  which  this  same  teacher,  whose 
name  was  Batsch,  advanced,  took  strong  hold  of 
Froebel.  The  one  was  "the  net-like  interrela- 
tion of  animals  on  all  sides ;  ' '  the  second  was 
that  "  the  skeleton  of  th.e  fish,  of  the  bird,  and  of 
man  is  one  and  the  same  —  that  of  man  being 
the  more  developed  type  which  all  the  lower 
forms  are  striving  to  realize."  In  this  statement 
we  hear  an  echo  of  Goethe's  osteological  studies 
which  had  penetrated  the  University,  and  which 
were  one  of  the  most  significant  and  prophetic 
preludes  of  the  Darwinian  doctrine  of  evolution. 
In  the  scientific  circles  of  Germany  the  question 
has  been  much  discussed:  Was  Goethe  a  Darwinist? 
So  Froebel,  apparently  ignorant  of  its  source, 
gives  his  response  to  the  Weimar  poet's  insight, 
and  is  thus  brought  into  secret  touch  with  Goethe. 

Still  Froebel  has  his  sharp  criticism  of  the 
University  teaching.  He  complains  that  a  good 
deal  of  it  was  disconnected,  without  inner  rela- 
tion. He  tests  all  by  that  one  deepest  standard 
of  his  own  soul:  unity,  internal  connection,  the 
ordered  Whole.  He  claims  that  he  already  as  a 
boy  perceived  the  defect  in  this  respect  at  Jena. 
"  Everywhere,  if  I  only  saw  the  inner  connection 
and  unity,  I  felt  the  longing  of  my  spirit  and  of 
my  heart  satisfied."  But  if  he  did  not  get  this, 
the  entire  subject  fell  to  naught. 


28  THE    LIFE    OF    FEOEBEL. 

A 

And  now  he  sets  down  with  joy  the  first  real 
mark  of  recognition  that  he  ever  received,  with 
one  slight  exception.  His  own  father  had  be- 
littled his  talent,  and  trampled  upon  his  aspira- 
tion ;  dream}',  absent-minded,  fantastic,  he  was 
regarded  as  moon-struck  if  not  exactly  a  moon- 
calf. But  now  he  is  recognized  to  have  some 
talent,  he  is  invited  to  become  a  member  of  a 
scientific  society,  composed  chiefly  of  meritorious 
students  at  the  University.  Very  encouraging 
was  this  independent  mark  of  esteem  for  the 
spirit-suppressed  youth  who  had  not  at  home 
been  deemed  worthy  an  University  education. 

«'  I  received  much  at  Jena,"  he  says,  "  but  I 
ought  to  have  gotten  much  more."  Discontent 
he  shows  with  his  training  there,  when  this  state- 
ment was  written  (1827)  ;  but  the  fact  must  be 
emphasized  that  he  received  far  more  than  he 
was  aware  of  or  perhaps  was  willing  to  acknowl- 
edge. He  was  drinking  in  the  spirit  which  then 
was  at  work  especially  in  that  locality. 

So  the  question  comes  up :  what  was  going  on 
at  Jena  in  those  days,  enveloping  the  young 
Froebel  in  its  atmosphere?  To  such  a  question 
the  answer  must  now  be  set  forth  with  some 
degree  of  fullness.  (4) 


*        FROEBEL  AT  JENA  29 

II. 

Philosophy  at  Jena. 

During  the  years  1799-1801,  the  period  of 
Froebel's  stay,  the  atmosphere  of  Jena  Uni- 
versity was  above  all  things  philosophical.  In 
fact  these  two  years  show  the  culmination  and 
turning-point  of  a  mighty  movement  of  specula- 
tive thought,  which  to-day,  one  hundred  years 
later,  has  not  by  any  means  spent  itself.  Phi- 
losophy, the  coolest  if  not  the  coldest  of  dis- 
ciplines, began  actually  to  grow  hot,  to  turn 
flaming  red,  and  to  set  on  fire  its  flabbiest 
adherents  with  a  divine  enthusiasm. 

The  man  who  started  this  philosophic  blaze  was 
Johann  Gottlieb  Fichte,  who  came  to  Jena  in 
1793  and  stirred  up  a  great  interest  through  his 
development  of  the  Kantian  system,  one  side  of 
which,  that  of  the  Self,  he  unfolded  and  pushed 
to  its  last  consequences  in  what  is  called  subject- 
ive idealism,  or  the  grand  nullification  of  the 
external  world.  This  puts  the  supreme  emphasis 
upon  the  individual  Ego,  making  it  a  kind  of  cre- 
ator of  the  universe  at  first  hand,  and  in  its  own 
immediate  right.  Prodigious  was  the  response 
of  the  German  Ego  to  such  a  flattering  doctrine 
of  itself;  it  began  to  seethe,  to  break  forth 
eruptively  in  volcanic  upheaval,  and  to  assert  its 
original  divine  right  of  world-making,  which 
seemed  just  now  to  have  been  discovered. 


30  THE    LIFE    OF    FEOEBEL. 

A  most  stimulating  spirit  was  this  Fichte,  and 
preached  a  most  stimulating  gospel  to  his  people, 
already  charged  to  the  full  with  all  sorts  of  elec- 
trical possibilities.  And  he  was  an  electrical 
man,  with  a  battery  in  his  Ego  full  of  lightning, 
which  gave  a  shock  to  all  existing  things,  struck 
and  singed,  and  burned  a  good  many  people,  and 
finally  himself. 

But  his  philosophy  brought  no  peace,  no  unity 
to  the  seeking  soul ;  it  called  forth  a  universe  full 
of  struggling  individuals  without  any  objective 
order ;  infinite  microcosms  infinitely  stimulated, 
but  no  macrocosm  to  hold  them  in  its  law.  A 
moral  ideal  was  the  highest  which  man  could 
strive  for  —  an  ideal  wholly  internal  and 
personal. 

Here  gapes  wide  the  deepest  chasm  in  the 
Teutonic  soul,  the  chasm  between  the  Real  and 
the  Ideal.  It  existed  before,  but  Fichte  hunted 
it  up,  pointed  it  out,  pried  it  open,  saying, 
"  Look,  there  it  is,  that  is  you,  my  dear  country- 
men." He  proclaims  that  the  Ego  builds  its  own 
house,  the  outer  environment  is  what  we  make 
it;  Self  is  the  distinctive,  the  only  true  thing  in 
existence.  Every  man  lives  in  his  own  world, 
being  not  only  world-governor  but  world-maker. 
But  what  if  these  worlds  get  to  colliding,  as  they 
are  sure  to  do?  Well,  just  that  is  the  trouble 
which  is  now  upon  him. 

It  is  no  wonder  that  tumult  followed  the  foot- 


FEOEBEL   AT  JENA.  81 

steps  of  Fichte,  tumult  of  disciples,  and  of  oppo- 
nents. Wherever  he  went,  he  bore  with  him  a 
whirlwind  —  which  seemed  a  part  of  his  person- 
ality. A  great  strife  arose  concerning  his  athe- 
ism, for  God  himself  seemed  to  vanish  into  the 
philosopher's  Ego,  which  out  of  itself  could 
create  everything.  In  the  summer  of  1799  he 
had  to  quit  Jena  and  went  to  Berlin.  Earlier  in 
the  same  year  young  Froebel  had  come  to  the 
University,  and  he  must  have  heard  the  din  of 
the  conflict  rising  from  hot  discussion  among  the 
students,  and  he  may  have  witnessed  the  depart- 
ure of  Fichte  himself  amid  the  huzzahs  of  friends, 
and  the  hisses  of  foes. 

So  it  came  that  the  electrical  philosopher  was 
struck  by  his  own  lightning,  which  he  had  en- 
gendered out  of  his  Ego,  and  which  whirled  him 
from  the  scene  of  his  early  triumph.  A  head- 
strong uncompromising  man,  defiant  of  Heaven 
and  Earth,  which  indeed  he  had  reduced  to 
a  mere  excretion  of  his  own  brain;  he  had  a 
Self  which  accepted  nothing  but  itself  in  this 
universe,  and  which  to  be  true  to  its  own  doc- 
trine, had  to  assert  itself  against  any  and  all 
others.  He  rose  to  the  point  of  daring  author- 
ity and  adding  a  menace,  that  authority  which 
gave  him  his  place  and  supported  him.  Olympian 
Goethe,  minister  of  the  Duke  of  Weimar,  sought 
to  calm  him,  to  protect  him  in  his  place,  and  so 
winked  at  his  outbreaks,  wishing  to  retain  such 


32  THE    LIFE    OF   FROEBEL. 

an  electrical  genius  at  the  University  —  very  rare 
in  such  places.  But  Fichte  became  more  reck- 
less, and  giving  way  to  his  fiery  temper,  made  a 
threat  against  the  government ;  then  the  Zeus  of 
Weimar,  rising  in  majesty  and  voicing  the  author- 
ity of  the  Gods,  spoke  the  memorable  words : 
"  The  State  cannot  let  itself  be  threatened  "  — 
and  Fichte  had  to  go. 

From  Jena  he  went  to  Berlin,  having  strongly 
experienced  that  there  was  something  valid  in  the 
world  besides  his  own  Ego.  Considerably  soft- 
ened, yet  carrying  his  whirlwind  with  him,  he 
enters  upon  a  new  career  at  the  Prussian  capital, 
lecturing,  writing  books,  rousing  with  patriotic 
addresses  the  sleeping  Teutonic  folk-spirit  to 
resist  Napoleon.  This  influence  Froebel  will  feel 
when  he  comes  to  Berlin  a  dozen  years  later,  and 
will  march  forth  as  a  soldier  to  help  put  down  the 
Latin  aggressor.  His  two  chief  companions  and 
friends,  Middendorf  and  Langethal,  both  of 
whom  went  with  him  to  Keilhau,  were  students 
of  Fichte,  and  were  deeply  tinged  with  this  phi- 
losopher's idealism.  Nor  must  we  omit  to  note 
the  record  which  has  been  handed  down,  that 
Wilhelmine  Hoffmeister,  Froebel' s  future  spouse, 
was  "  a  pupil  of  Fichte  and  Schleiermacher." 
Thus  all  of  the  members  of  the  company  here- 
after assembled  in  the  school  of  Keilhau,  have  a 
line  of  spiritual  descent  reaching  back  to  Fichte. 

In   a  number   of  ways,  therefore,  Froebel  is 


FROEBEL  AT  JENA.  33 

connected  with  this  philosopher.  One  more  edu- 
cational fact  may  be  noted :  Fichte  will  be 
among  the  first  and  strongest  promulgators  of 
universal  education,  and  will  lend  all  the  might 
of  his  stimulating  eloquence  to  scatter  the  seeds 
of  Pestalozzi's  great  reform  of  instruction. 
Hereafter  we  shall  see  Froebel  drinking  from  the 
same  fountain,  and  making  himself  the  spiritual 
successor  of  the  noble  Swiss  educator.  Then, 
too,  the  Romantic  movement,  which  had  a  pro- 
found and  lasting  influence  over  Froebel  and  his 
work,  has  its  roots  in  Fichte' s  philosophy. 

Still  it  is  another  Jena  philosopher  with  whom 
Froebel  shows  the  deepest  kinship.  This  is 
Schelling,  who  succeeded  Fichte 's  influence  at 
Jena  and  even  surpassed  it,  in  a  new  philosophical 
development.  Schelling  had  come  to  Jena  in  the 
year  1798,  a  young  man  whose  genius  ripened 
early ;  he  was  at  this  time  only  23  years  old, 
but  had  already  shown  the  stuff  he  was  made  of 
by  his  writings.  This  same  year  he  had  pub- 
lished his  book  On  the  World-Soul,  in  which  he 
seeks  to  explain  philosophically  the  organism  of 
Nature.  A  young  man  of  great  promise; 
Goethe,  always  spying  out  from  his  Weimar 
Olympus  some  gifted  professor  for  his  Uni- 
versity, has  gone  to  Tubingen  and  secured  him. 

Schelling  in  his  earlier  writings  had  been  an 
ardent  disciple  of  Fichte,  but  now  he  begins  to 
strike  out  into  a  path  of  his  own.  Alongside  of 

3 


34  THE    LIFE    OF    FEOEBEL. 

Ficlite's  Ego  he  places  Nature,  which  has  also  a 
right  to  be  considered  as  a  portion  of  the  uni- 
verse, though  it  was  neglected  if  not  despised  by 
Fichte.  So  to  the  subject  Schelling  joins  the 
object,  the  physical  world,  which  he  sees  to  be 
everywhere  interpenetrated  by  a  Self,  and 
ordered  by  a  Self,  which  order  it  is  the  phi- 
losopher's function  to  set  forth.  Thus  Schel- 
ling becomes  the  founder  of  a  philosophy  of 
Nature,  which  is  the  strong  sympathetic  bond 
between  him  and  Froebel. 

In  the  year  1800  Schelling  published  his  chief 
work  called  The  System  of  Transcendental 
Idealism,  the  most  complete  and  best  organized 
of  all  his  writings,  which  are,  in  general,  a  sud- 
den, spontaneous  gathering  of  disconnected  in- 
sights, often  of  great  beauty  and  depth.  Like 
Froebel  he  shows  but  little  organic  power  in 
unfolding  his  theme.  The  mentioned  book  was 
the  fruit  of  his  lectures  which  were  given  during 
the  preceding  years,  and  produced  an  extraordi- 
nary ferment  among  the  Jena  students,  who  were 
heard  discussing  them  on  all  sides.  The  aspir- 
ing rustic  youth,  our  Frederick,  listened  eagerly 
to  these  discussions,  took  their  meaning  into  his 
very  soul,  though  he  did  not  regularly  attend 
Schelling' s  lectures. 

Without  wading  into  metaphysical  depths  over 
our  heads,  let  us  see  if  we  cannot  grasp  Schel- 
ling's  fundamental  thought,  as  it  influenced 


FEOEBEL  AT  JENA.  35 

Froebel.  In  general,  Schelling  beholds  the  pro- 
cess of  the  Ego  moving  through  and  organizing 
all  the  forms  of  Nature.  Says  he:  "  The  Sys- 
tem of  Nature  is  at  the  same  time  the  System  of 
our  own  Mind."  More  subtly  he  declares  that 
"  Nature  is  visible  Spirit,  and  Spirit  is  invisible 
Nature."  From  Schelling  conies  the  Romantic 
idea  that  Nature  is  a  vast  work  of  art,  and  that 
God  is  supremely  the  artist  or  creative  genius, 
whose  function  is  to  produce  the  beautiful  world. 
God  is  the  prototype  of  the  mundane  artist,  who 
is  the  highest  worker  on  Earth,  as  the  Lord  is  in 
Heaven.  Hence  Art,  in  Schelling's  system,  is 
the  supreme  spiritual  attainment  of  man. 

The  reader  of  Froebel  is  aware  of  his  persist- 
ent pounding  on  the  inner  connection  of  things, 
which  indeed  is  his  primal  standard  of  judging 
every  work  and  every  person.  Very  like  him 
sounds  the  following  passage  from  Schelling: 
"  Our  spirit  strives  for  unity  i»  the  system  of 
its  knowledge ;  it  cannot  endure  to  have  a  special 
principle  forced  upon  itself  for  every  single 
phenomenon,  and  it  believes  itself  only  to 
behold  Nature  there  where  in  the  greatest  variety 
of  appearances  it  finds  the  greatest  simplicity  of 
law,  and  in  the  most  lavish  display  of  effects  the 
most  careful  economy  of  means."  Likewise 
Froebel' s  well-known  law  of  the  union  of 
opposites  may  have  been  first  suggested  by 
Schelling's  Philosophy  of  Identity  (Identitats- 


36  THE   LIFE    OF    FROEBEL. 

Philosophic),  though  found  long  since  in  many 
philosophies,  especially  among  the  old  Greeks. 

(5) 

Incessant  was  the  buzz  of  talk  in  Jena  town 
about  Schelling's  new  revelation  of  Nature. 
During  the  two  years  of  Froebel's  stay  this  ex- 
citement was  at  its  height,  always  roused  anew 
by  some  fresh  lecture,  article  or  booklet  of  the 
master.  In  such  an  atmosphere  lived  our  eager 
Frederick,  impressionable  youth  that  he  was,  and 
drank  down,  quite  unconsciously,  its  spiritual 
contents.  Later  we  shall  see  his  own  construc- 
tion of  Nature,  undoubtedly  derived  from  Schel- 
ling,  which  he  sets  forth  in  The  Education  of 
Man.  But  chiefly  here  is  the  origin  of  that 
symbolism  of  Nature,  which  is  so  conspicuous  in 
Froebel  throughout  his  whole  career,  which 
others  will  employ  in  Science,  Art,  Poetry,  Lit- 
erature, but  which  he  will  turn  to  its  highest  use 
in  Education,  ^pven  the  Education  of  the  Little 
Child. 

Froebel,  therefore,  shows  one  line  of  develop- 
ment out  of  Schelling  at  the  time  when  the  latter 
held  the  doctrine  of  the  identity  of  Nature  and 
Spirit,  or,  as  it  is  sometimes  expressed,  the 
indifference  of  subject  and  object.  Schelling 
unfolded  afterwards  into  mysticism,  and  him  we 
need  not  further  follow.  But  another  line  of 
development  out  of  Schelling,  the  supremely  phi- 
losophic one,  we  must  mention,  none  other  than 


FROEBEL   AT  JENA.  37 

Hegel,  who,  once  the  disciple,  now  breaks  loose 
from  the  master  and  begins  to  construct  his  own 
system  of  thought,  the  most  colossal  and  com- 
pact which  the  world  has  yet  seen.  Hegel  was 
far  longer  in  maturing  than  Schelling,  was  five 
years  older  in  age,  yet  a  good  ten  years  younger 
in  development.  In  fact,  Schelling  never  ripened 
in  the  sense  Hegel  did,  the  former  being  the 
youthful  prodigy  in  philosophy  and  remaining 
such  all  his  life,  full  of  sudden,  marvelous,  brill- 
iant metamorphoses,  but  not  well-ordered. 

In  1801,  the  year  in  which  Froebel  left,  Hegel 
(born  in  1770),  also  appeared  at  Jena,  drawn 
from  a  distance  into  the  marvelous  creative  mael- 
strom, which  had  the  power  of  sucking  into  itself 
every  intellectual  germ  of  the  future .  But  Hegel 
never  produced  any  direct  influence  upon  Froebel 
whose  cast  of  mind  was  far  more  sympathetic 
with  Schelling,  though  the  latter 's  influence  and 
doctrines  were  chiefly  imbibed  by  Froebel  through 
the  electrical  atmosphere  of  Jena,  so  that  he 
hardly  knew  himself  what  he  was  getting.  Not 
through  books  so  much  as  through  daily  inter- 
course and  conversation —  which  is  the  old  way 
and  in  many  respects  the  best  way  —  did  Froebel 
grow  and  become  inwardly  transformed  into  his 
fundamental  view  of  the  world. 

Such  was  the  vigorous,  philosophic  life  which 
was  stirring  in  Jena  when  our  country  boy  walked 
into  town  one  day.  Let  us  note  again  the  sweep 


38  THE    LIFE    OF   FEOEBEL. 

of  his  two  years'  stay :  he  saw  Fichte  depart  in  a 
tempes't,  saw  the  rise  and  culmination  of  Schel- 
ling  in  his  greatest  epoch,  saw  the  quiet  entrance 
of  Hegel,  the  supreme  architect  of  Thought,  who 
was  then  31  years  old,  and  still  slowly  maturing. 
For  Hegel  had  to  wait  till  his  architectonic  genius 
had  ripened,  whose  function  it  was  to  gather  all 
the  scattered  ideas  of  a  richly  creative  age,  to 
bring  them  into  an  ordered  harmony  and  build 
them  into  one  vast  Parthenon  temple  of  philoso- 
phy, thus  saving  that  world  of  brilliant  fragments 
by  housing  them  in  an  edifice  destined  not  soon 
to  perish.  Or  wre  may  regard  these  two  years  at 
Jena  as  the  time  when  the  very  arch  of  the  lofty, 
philosophic  bridge  which  rises  out  of  Medieval- 
ism, or,  in  its  farthest  reach,  out  of  Antiquity, 
and  bends  over  into  the  modern  world,  down  into 
our  days,  was  constructed — and  Froebel  was 
present  and  saw  the  keystone  put  in.  To  be 
sure,  he  never  did,  and  never  could,  formulate  its 
principle  in  full;  but  he  absorbed  its  meaning 
instinctively,  he  was  baptized  in  its  creative 
spirit,  and  it  became  the  unconscious  foundation 
of  all  his  work.  He  was  flung  as  it  were  into 
the  fountain-head  of  the  originality  of  a  great 
epoch,  in  whose  productive  energy  he  shares,  and 
of  which  his  call  is  to  become,  not  the  philoso- 
pher, not  the  artist,  not  tKe  poet,  but  the  edu- 
cator. 

I  have  probably  wearied  thee  already,  my  for- 


FEOEBEL  AT  JENA.  39 

bearing  reader,  with  an  excess  of  metaphysics  in 
this  chapter,  but  may  I  not  without  offense  sum- 
mon thee  once  more  to  think?  Just  for  one 
moment  let  us  key  ourselves  up  to  the  act  of 
thought  and  recapitulate  in  brief  dialogue  the 
movement  out  of  Fichte  into  Schelling,  inasmuch 
as  it  has  entered  deep  into  the  unconscious  life  of 
Froebel  at  this  time,  and  will  hereafter  show 
itself  in  his  work  and  in  his  writings. 

' «  The  -external  world  has  no  true  being ;  only 
Self  has  that,"  says  Fichte. 

"  Eight,"  says  Schelling,  "  but  your  external 
world  is,  too,  a  Self,  God's  Self  manifested. 
Hence,  I  shall  turn  to  Nature  and  show  it  as  a 
revelation  of  the  Divine  Ego." 

Here  is  the  point  at  which  Schelling  took  hold 
of  the  soul  of  young  Froebel  and  kept  it  through 
life,  yet  with  many  ups  and  downs,  "with  many 
fluctuations  and  modifications.  For  it  is  plain 
that  in  this  view  Nature  is  a  symbol  revealing  to 
the  senses  of  men  the  divinely  creative  spirit  at 
work  in  the  world,  and  hence  may  be  the  means 
of  lifting  the  sensuous  being,  even  the  little  child 
in  the  kindergarden,  up  toward  the  Godlike. 

Herewith  education  begins,  whose  supreme  end 
is  the  unfolding  of  the  human  soul  into  its  Divine 
portion,  the  return  to  God.  The  educator,  there- 
fore, has  a  priestly  function;  he  is  through 
employing  rightly  Nature  as  a  symbol  of  the 
Spirit  to  develop  the  human  being  into  unity 


40  THE    LIFE    OF    FROEBEL. 

with  its  Creator,  who  is  also  the  Creator  of 
Nature.  Thus  Froebel  is  applying  Schelling's 
Philosophy  of  Nature  to  education,  transforming 
it  into  a  grand  pedagogical  instrumentality  for 
bringing  man  back  to  God. 

This  doctrine  is  particularly  brought  out  in 
Froebel's  introduction  to  the  Education  of  Man, 
from  which  we  transcribe  the  following  passage, 
though  a  dozen  like  it  might  be  added :  — 

"  Education  should  lead  and  direct  man  to 
clearness  concerning  and  in  himself,  to  peace 
with  Nature,  and  to  union  with  God;  hence  it 
should  elevate  man  to  the  knowledge  of  himself 
and  of  mankind,  to  the  knowledge  of  God  and 
Nature,  and  to  the  pure  and  holy  life  conditioned 
through  these." 

So  much  for  this  dip  into  German  philosophy, 
which  we,  as  the  thoroughgoing  students  of 
Froebel,  have  to  take,  for  without  it  there  is  no 
adequate  understanding  of  him  as  an  educator, 
or  of  the  age  which  produced  him,  or  indeed  of 
the  great  modern  educational  movement,  in  the 
midst  of  which  we  are  all  now  whirled  onward. 

III. 

The  Romantic  School  at  Jena. 

During  the  years  1799-1801,  the  period  of 
Froebel's  sojourn,  we  find  at  Jena  the  beginnings 
of  a  movement,  which,  grounding  itself  upon 


FEOEBEL   AT  JENA.  41 

philosophy,  is  destined  to  reach  far  beyond  it 
and  to  embrace  Literature,  Art  and  Religion,  and 
to  extend  even  into  the  field  of  Education,  in 
which  last  work  Froebel  will  have  a  part.  This 
is  the  so-called  Romantic  movement,  very  famous 
in  its  day,  into  whose  fermentation  our  sus- 
ceptible country  boy  makes  another  plunge  head 
foremost  by  the  very  fact  of  his  coming  to  Jena 
at  this  time.  (6) 

The  Romantic  movement  springs  confessedly 
out  of  Fichte's  doctrine  of  the  Ego,  which  has 
asserted  itself  as  the  creator  of  the  world  inner 
and  outer.  The  unlimited  Self  is  now  free,  nay 
is  enthroned,  and  is  bound  to  rule,  even  in  a 
despotic  way.  What  is  to  restrain  its  caprice? 
Social  and  institutional  life  is  as  nothing,  you 
can  make  your  own  institutions  and  change  them 
at  will ;  you  need  have  nothing  to  do  with  what 
is  established.  So  Fichte  in  his  Science  of 
Knowledge  broke  the  shackles  of  the  Ego,  espe- 
cially of  the  German  Ego,  and  mighty  was  its 
response  to  his  word  of  emancipation.  Now  it  is 
loose,  see  it  run  and  careen  and  curvet  unbridled 
in  its  new  freedom,  going  through  all  sorts  of 
fantastic  evolutions  and  contortions.  Romantic 
it  has  become,  or  is  sweeping  rapidly  in  that 
direction. 

But  even  Fichte  has  his  limits  which  must  be 
transcended  by  Romanticism;  he  has  no  outer 
world  of  Nature  which  the  artist  must  have,  and 


42  THE    LIFE    OF   FEOEBEL. 

he  has  in  his  inner  world  the  Moral  Law  which 
is  an  obstacle  not  to  be  tolerated  by  the  Roman- 
ticist, whose  Ego  is  to  show  itself  in  all  its 
phases,  as  fancy,  imagination,  caprice,  mood, 
even  as  dream.  Deep  is  the  break  with  all 
reality,  the  deeper  the  better,  even  with  morality 
there  is  a  rupture.  Genius  is  the  supreme  act  of 
the  Self,  whose  expression  is  Art,  not  Morals. 
God  is  the  first  artist,  and  Nature  is  His  work  of 
Art,  everywhere  manifesting  the  Divine  Ego  in 
all  its  wild,  untameable  luxuriance.  In  fact  God 
is  the  supreme  Romantic  genius,  whom  the 
Romanticist  alone  can  rightly  appreciate  through 
that  vast  artistic  masterpiece  of  His,  called 
Nature. 

It  is  manifest  that  Schelling  is  the  philoso- 
pher of  Romanticism,  he  who  traced  the  Divine 
Ego  manifesting  itself  through  all  the  shapes  of 
Nature.  The  Romantic  School  had  as  its  highest 
end  the  complete  union  of  Philosophy  and  Poetry, 
and  its  supreme  poem  was  to  be  on  Nature,  like 
that  of  Roman  Lucretius.  Even  Goethe  carried 
about  with  him  the  idea  of  such  a  poem  for 
several  years,  but  it  was  never  written.  The 
nearest  to  any  result  of  this  sort  is  Schelling' s 
philosophication  of  Nature,  which  certainly  has 
also  a  poetic  strand. 

Marvelous  was  the  spread  of  the  new  gospel, 
which  was  in  fact  an  outgrowth  of  the  deepest 
needs  of  the  time.  It  taught  the  chafing  spirit 


FEOEBEL  AT  JENA.  43 

to  look  within  and  there  construct  a  world  of 
romance,  into  which  it  could  flee  out  of  the 
miserable  reality  existing  in  state  and  society. 
It  could  live  in  an  ideal  realm  of  its  own  crea- 
tion, and  thus  get  rid  of  the  present,  this  wretched 
Serbonian  bog  into  which  not  only  whole  armies, 
but  the  whole  world  had  sunk. 

Hence  Romanticism  had  a  tendency  to  drop 
back  into  former  periods  of  history  supposed  to 
be  more  ideal.  Especially  did  it  revert  to  the 
Middle  Ages  in  Art,  Poetry,  Religion;  it  catholi- 
cized, and  in  the  person  of  its  chief  founder, 
Frederick  Schlegel,  it  joined  the  Church  of 
Rome,  though  originating  in  Protestant  Ger- 
many. But  even  beyond  the  medieval  world  it 
penetrated,  yea  beyond  Europe;  it  sped  to  the 
Orient,  to  India,  from  which  this  same  Schlegel 
in  his  world-wide  wanderings  brought  back  the 
basic  stone  of  Comparative  Philology  in  his 
Sanscrit  studies. 

Romanticism  accordingly  gave  expression  to  a 
deep  need  of  the  nation  and  of  the  time,  in  which 
there  was  a  profound  but  helpless  dissatisfaction 
with  State,  Church,  and  the  Social  Order.  Let 
us  flee  from  this  slough  of  reality  any  whither, 
to  Shakespeare's  England,  to  Calderon's  Spain, 
;to  Italy,  to  Greece,  aye  to  the  valley  of  the 
Ganges.  So  the  Romanticists  with  marvelous 
learning  and  skill  sought  out  and  worked  up  in 
translation  and  imitation  old  geniuses  of  far-off 


44  THE    LIFE    OF    F ROE  BEL. 

countries  and  distant  ages,  finding  in  them  a 
spirit  kindred  to  their  own. 

Thus  Romanticism  showed  a  vast  fresh  gather- 
ing of  strength,  with  which,  however,  was 
coupled  prodigious  weakness,  in  fact  the  deep- 
est weakness  of  the  Teutonic  spirit,  which 
is  the  inability  to  realize  itself  adequately  in  in- 
stitutions. Herein  lies  its  strong  contrast  with 
the  Anglo-Saxon  spirit,  which  is  supremely  insti 
tutional  and  the  maker  of  institutions.  The  Ger- 
man has  never  founded  a  State  or  Social  System 
in  which  he  feels  quite  at  home.  He  is  or  has 
been  thinker  for  Europe,  and  idealist  for  the 
whole  world,  only  rivaled  by  the  Oriental  Hindoo. 
The  German  can  tell  more  about  Anglo-Saxon 
institutions  than  the  Anglo-Saxon  himself 
knows.  The  best  books  on  the  State  are  writ- 
ten in  German  by  Germans,  but  these  people 
have  never  produced  the  best  State  even  in  their 
own  opinion. 

What  is  the  result?  Through  rigid  necessity 
the  German  comes  to  the  conclusion  that  there 
is  an  impassable  chasm  between  the  Eeal  and 
Ideal,  and  there  is  —  for  him.  How  this  dis- 
tinction winds  through  all  German  Literature  in 
one  form  or  other  —  here  is  the  Real,  yonder  is 
the  Ideal,  absolutely  separated,  opposed,  and 
indeed  irreconcilable  !  In  English  Literature  it 
hardly  exists,  unless  by  importation.  But 'it  is 
just  that  which  is  painted  by  the  German  artist, 


FEOEBEL  AT  JENA.  45 

sung  by  tne  German  poet,  and  formulated  by 
the  German  philosopher ;  all  are  seeking  to  ex- 
press the  innermost  scission  of  their  people's 
spirit,  which  is  also  their  own. 

Emphatically  is  this  the  theme  of  Romanticism, 
the  fundamental  tone  or  key-note  running 
through  all  its  productions — life's  grand  dualism 
into  Real  and  Ideal.  So  it  came  that  the  Roman- 
tic School  of  writers  and  artists  gave  utterance 
and  relief  to  the  cleft  Teutonic  folk-soul,  with 
its  infinite  sighings  and  longings,  pegged  fast  like 
Ariel  in  the  remorseless  fissure  of  a  wooden  uni- 
verse. All  felt  the  throes  of  the  distracted  situ- 
ation in  some  form,  and  responded  to  the  consol- 
ing wrord  which  might  help  sustain  the  burden. 
Even  our  country-boy  Froebel  had  known  the 
bitter  reality  in  the  shape  of  a  harsh  father  and 
a  jealous  step-mother,  and  had  in  a  sense  fled  to 
Jena  where  was  the  rising  ideal  world  of  Roman- 
ticism ready  to  receive  him  and  all  like  him. 

The  Romantic  School  may  be  said  to  have 
been  born  in  the  years  1799-1800,  and  the  birth 
took  place  at  Jena.  Its  chief  founders  were  the 
brothers  Schlegel,  of  whom  the  elder,  August 
Wilhelrn,  left  the  University  of  Jena  in  the  sum- 
mer of  1800,  where  he  had  been  active  as  pro- 
fessor and  critic  for  the  preceding  four  years. 
His  brother,  Frederick  Schlegel,  appeared  at 
Jena  in  1799  and  remained  a  year,  a  very  stimu- 
lating yet  disappointing  man,  the  most  restless 


46  THE    LIFE    OF    FROEBEL. 

spirit  in  .  Germany  at  this  restless  epoch,  with 
wonderful  flashes  of  genius  which  never  failed  to 
go  out  in  a  flash,  the  very  incarnation  of  Roman- 
ticism with  all  its  power  of  unsteadiness.  The 
third  great  Romantic  light  was  Ludwig  Tieck 
who  likewise  moved  to  Jena  in  1799,  coming  to 
town  at  the  same  time  with  our  country-boy,  who 
had  in  his  heart  any  quantity  of  Romantic  fuel 
ready  for  ignition.  Then  the  fourth  of  this  high 
company  was  Novalis,  who  was  a  frequent  visitor 
at  Jena  during  this  time.  Upon  the  same  ground 
dwelt  Professor  Schelling,  already  known  to  us 
as  the  philosopher  of  Romanticism.  So  com- 
pletely united  and  localized  with  ideas  scintillat- 
ing from  one  glowing  center  of  creative  energy, 
the  band  of  Romanticists  could  never  be  again, 
each  one  of  whom  had  his  own  central  Ego  radi 
ating  its  light  in  a  strongly  centrifugal  fashion. 
Once  more  behold  them  all  together  at  Jena  in 
the  year  1799,  which  was  the  flowering  season  of 
Romanticism;  and  then  behold  the  receptive 
rural  youth  from  Oberweissbach  coming  along 
and  gazing  at  the  wonderful  century-plant,  a  kind 
of  night-blooming  Cereus,  with  deep  wonder  and 
sympathy,  for  it  has  some  inner  bond  of  connec- 
tion with  his  darkly  struggling  and  as  yet  form- 
less soul. 

It  is  our  opinion  that  this  youth,  who  is  our 
Frederick,  took  up  the  spirit  of  Romanticism 
into  his  own  at  its  very  source,  catching  the  ear- 


FEOEBEL   AT   JENA.  47 

liest  fragrance  of  it  during  the  process  of  its 
blossoming.  The  two  Schlegels  and  Tieck  were 
there  at  Jena,  lecturing  and  writing  upon  Poetry, 
Archeology,  Romance  (  Wilhelm  Meister,  for;  in- 
stance) with  all  the  enthusiasm  of  a  new-born 
faith.  The  contagion  was  in  the  air  which  Froe- 
bel  was  then  breathing,  and  he  was  ready  to  be 
inoculated. 

Yes,  he  was  ready,  his  young  soul  was  a  most 
promising  seed-field  for  a  crop  of  Romanticism. 
His  whole  life  had  been  one  inner  protest  against 
its  environment,  one  deep  feeling  of  wrong  done 
him  by  those  who  ought  to  love  him  and  foster 
his  talent.  His  own  home,  his  own  father,  just 
the  authority  over  him,  was  the  most  crushing 
fact  to  his  spirit ;  then  the  step-mother  —  but 
the  whole  world  seemed  to  him  a  step-mother. 
How  he  longed  to  flee  from  the  existent  order 
above  and  around  him !  In  fact,  his  coming  to 
Jena  may  be  considered  a  flight  from  the  Real  to 
the  Ideal,  from  slavery  to  freedom.  For  in  Jena 
he  was  living  a  free  life,  fulfilling  his  aspiration; 
he  was  dwelling  in  a  realm  of  Ideas,  which  he 
was  sucking  in  like  an  infant  at  the  breast,  in  the 
full  delight  of  growth  without  knowing  it,  away 
from  church  and  pastor,  from  family  and  father, 
wholly  out  of  reach  of  a  step-motherly  world. 

Now  this  Romantic  strand  will  be  woven 
through  Froebel's  life  and  work.  Later,  during 
more  mature  years,  he  will  again  come  upon  it  in 


48  THE    LIFE    OF    FROEBEL. 

Berlin.  His  two  chief  friends  there,  his  compan- 
ions in  arms,  as  well  as  his  fellow- workers  in 
Keilhau  afterwards  —  Middenclorf  and  Lange- 
thal  —  may  be  fairly  called  Romanticists.  Both 
were  students  of  theology,  pupils  of  Schleier- 
macher  who  belonged  to  the  Romantic  School, 
and  who,  though  a  Christian  minister  in  real 
Prussia,  fled  to  ideal  Greece,  and  lived  therewith 
the  ancient  idealist  Plato,  whom  he  translated  and 
interpreted  to  his  own  age.  Then  Froebel's  wife, 
Wilhelmine  Hoffmeister,  was  a  Romanticist, 
highly  cultured  and  refined,  and  her  marriage  to 
the  poor,  rustic  Thuringian  schoolmaster  must  be 
called  romantic  in  a  double  sense. 

A  word  may  be  said  here  about  these  female 
Romanticists,  who  have  an  important  place  in  the 
movement.  Indeed,  the  rank  and  file  of  the 
Romantic  army,  the  great  body  of  devotees,  dis- 
ciples, readers  of  Romantic  Literature,  were 
women,  to  whom  this  view  of  life  very  strongly 
appealed.  And  they  have  their  supreme  represen- 
tative, the  woman  Romanticist  above  all  others, 
Caroline  Michaelis-Bohrner-Sehliegel-Schelling 
the  woman  of  many  husbands,  each  of  whom 
may  be  considered  to  represent  a  stepping- 
stone  of  progress  or  a  stage  of  her  Romantic 
career,  culminating  in  philosophy,  which  she 
finally  wedded  in  the  person  of  the  philosopher 
of  Romanticism  himself,  our  well-known  Schel- 
ling.  Her  previous  Romantic  husband,  the 


FROEBEL   AT  JENA.  49 

famous  A.  W.  Schlegel,  she  simply  dropped 
when  she  was  done  with  him,  seemingly  to  his 
joy,  and,  obtaining  largely  through  his  interces- 
sion, an  easy  divorce  from  the  obliging  Duke  of 
Weimar,  she  was  ready  to  marry  a  new  stage  of 
Romantic  progress  illustrated  by  a  husband. 
But,  we  must  add,  she  never  got  to  Hegel,  for 
she  never  got  him,  the  mighty  thought -builder, 
inasmuch  as  Caroline  did  not  like  system ;  hers 
were  insights,  moods,  intuitions,  caprices,  emo- 
tions, coruscations  of  the  genius  of  disorder;  in 
fine,  that  woman  had  in  her  and  could  play  on  oc- 
casion the  whole  gamut  of  Romantic  subjectivity 
from  the  bottom  note  to  its  highest,  all  of  them 
taking  shape  at  last  in  a  line  of  Romantic  lovers. 

And  we  must  remember  that  from  the  Roman- 
tic female  atmosphere  of  Berlin  Froebel  will  take 
the  Hoffmeister,  who,  by  the  by,  was  also  a 
divorced  woman  (without  any  blame  of  hers,  be 
it  added),  and  will  carry  her  off  to  his  ideal  world 
in  the  Thuringian  Forest,  of  course  with  her  own 
consent. 

The  school  founded  by  Froebel  at  Keilhau  had 
many  elements  of  Romanticism,  which  were 
directed,  in  accord  with  the  bent  of  his  genius, 
to  the  education  of  the  people.  In  that  little 
village  there  was  a  simple,  idyllic  life,  to  which  a 
flight  had  taken  place  from  a  more  complex  social 
condition;  there  was  the  return  to  Nature,  to  Par- 
adise ;  there  was  a  going  back  to  Medieval  cus- 

4 


50  THE    LIFE    OF   F  ROE  BEL. 

torn  and  costume,  to  the  Medieval  romance  (the 
Magic  Ring,  for  instance)  which  was  read  by 
the  students,  and  talked  of  by  the  teachers ;  in 
the  long  tours  and  wanderings  of  the  Keilhau 
boys  one  feels  a  touch  of  knight-errantry,  adven- 
turous, fantastic,  almost  Quixotic  at  times; 
surely,  here  was  a  pronounced  vein  of  Romanti- 
cism . 

Another  significant  and  far-reaching  fact  must 
be  noted  in  this  connection:  there  was  also  an 
inner  withdrawal  from  the  institutional  reality, 
from  State  and  Church,  though  there  was  an 
outward  conformity  to  both.  Patriotism  and  re- 
ligion, genuine  and  abundant,  were  found  at 
Keilhau,  but  their  institutional  embodiments  were 
not  specially  cultivated,  were  not  so  very  accept- 
able, in  the  form  they  showed  themselves  in 
Germany  at  this  period.  As  we  see  Froebel,  we 
find  this  inner  breach  with  the  institutions  of  his 
land  running  through  his  life,  and  causing  him 
no  small  trouble,  and  making  him  suspected  and 
even  persecuted  by  the  authorities  down  to  his 
dying  day. 

In  some  such  fashion  we  may  bring  before 
ourselves  the  influence  of  Romanticism  upon 
Froebel's  thought  and  work.  He  drank  of  it 
first  at  Jena,  having  brought  thither  the  feeling 
of  deep  discord  between  the  Real  and  Ideal  in 
his  own  life.  He  hears  of  the  doctrine  of  the 
subjective  Ego,  and  its  supreme  right  of  freedom. 


F  ROE  BEL  AT  JENA.  51 

He  as  educator  will  assert  that  not  only  the 
grown  man,  but  the  Ego  of  youth,  yea,  of  in- 
fancy, has  the  right  to  make  its  own  world;  the 
boy  must  be  trained  to  be  a  Eomantic  genius  — 
that  is  Keilhau.  Even  the  baby  in  the  cradle 
must  be  permitted  to  affirm  its  Ego,  and  from 
this  starting-point  to  be  educated  —  the  baby  is 
a  Romantic  being  and  must  be  treated  romantic- 
ally. Child-study  may  spurn  its  origin,  but  a 
good  part  of  its  ancestry  can  be  traced  back  to 
the  Romantic  movement,  which,  in  the  order  of 
nature,  could  only  have  Romantic  infants,  and 
was  compelled  by  its  own  principle  to  exploit  all 
the  wonders  and  profundities  of  babydom. 

IV. 

Jena  and  Weimar. 

Who  is  that  tall,  majestic  man  alighting  from 
his  vehicle  yonder,  with  the  mien  of  supreme 
authority,  yet  with  every  line  melting  into  mild- 
ness? Already  several  of  the  professors,  the 
most  distinguished  at  Jena,  have  gathered  about 
him,  and  are  saluting  him  reverentially,  yet  in 
the  equality  of  friendship.  He  looks  a  great 
man,  every  inch  of  him.  Homer,  would  say,  a 
God  had  descended  to  Earth  from  his  Olympian 
seat,  and  had  taken  human  shape,  to  speak  some 
divine  word  unto  mortals. 

Our  Thuringian  country-boy,  recently  arrived 


52  THE    LIFE    OF    FROEBEL. 

at  Jeria,  comes  down  the  street  taking  a  stroll, 
and  beholds  that  awe-inspiring  human  presence ; 
he  stops  and  gazes  for  a  moment,  then  eagerly 
asks  brother  Traugott  at  his  side:  "Who  is 
that?  "  Traugott,  having  been  a  student  for 
many  months,  knows  the  face  and  answers: 
"  That  is  Goethe,  he  has  just  come  over  from 
Weimar  on  one  of  his  frequent  visits  to  the 
University." 

Such  is  the  scene  in  which  the  reader  is  to 
imagine  the  susceptible  youth  looking  upon  the 
visible  human  appearance  of  the  greatest  man 
his  nation  has  produced  —  no  insignificant  event 
in  the  life  of  the  boy.  He  must  have  had  the 
same  opportunity  frequently  during  his  two  years' 
stay,  as  the  University  was  under  the  direct  per- 
sonal supervision  of  Goethe  at  this  time. 

"  Did  you  see  him?  "  asked  Goethe  eagerly  of 
Eckermann  on  a  certain  occasion,  "  did  you  see 
him?"  See  whom?  See  Wellington,  the  hero, 
who  was  passing  through  Weimar  on  his  way  to 
the  Congress  of  Vienna.  A  great  thing  to  look 
upon  the  visible  incarnation  of  the  heroic  in  any 
form  —  so  thought  Goethe.  But  really  at  that 
moment  Eckermann  was  looking  upon  a  hero 
greater  than  Wellington,  greater  than  Napoleon, 
the  hero  of  Culture,  yes,  the  highest  living  em- 
bodiment of  our  modern  Culture,. namely,  Goethe 
himself. 

A  few  miles  across  the  countrv  from  Jena  lies 


FEOEBEL  AT  JENA.  53 

the  little  city  of  Weimar,  seat  of  government 
and  home  of  Goethe,  the  Zeus  of  this  new 
Olympian  world,  supreme  poet  on  the  one  hand 
and  chief  minister  of  State  on  the  other.  He 
had  gathered  round  himself  the  chief  singers, 
philosophers,  scientists  of  this  fertile  epoch. 
The  little  river  Ilni  running  past  Weimar  saw 
wonders  and  heard  melodies  loftiest  and  sweetest 
of  our  modern  era.  Goethe's  garden  house 
stands  in  the  little  valley  near  the  bend  of  the 
stream,  and  seems  to  be  lingering  still  to  strains 
whose  singers  have  long  since  vanished. 

What,  then,  was  going  on  at  Weimar  during 
these  years  1799-1801?  Marvelous  creations  of 
the  Muse ;  Schiller  and  Goethe  had  produced  in 
rivalry  some  of  their  finest  ballads,  as  1797  was 
the  famous  ballad-year;  Wilhelm  Meister's  Ap- 
prenticeship had  been  printed  and  was  doing  its 
work,  especially  in  the  Romantic  School;  Goethe 
was  busy,  among  other  things,  with  Faust. 
The  grand  modern  literary  epoch  of  Germany 
was  just  in  the  height  of  its  creative  energy. 

But  the  chief  poetic  outburst  of  Weimar  dur- 
ing these  years  lay  in  the  line  of  the  drama,  and 
Schiller  was  in  the  supremacy  of  his  genius.  His 
Wallenstein  was  produced  on  the  boards  in  1799, 
his  Maria  Stuart  in  1800,  his  Maid  of  Orleans 
in  1801.  German  criticism  to-day  still  assigns 
to  these  three  works  the  highest  rank  in  German 
dramatic  literature,  with  the  exception  of  Faust, 


54  THE    LIFE    OF    FROEBEL. 

which  is  considered  to  be  a  universal  poem  rather 
than  a  stage-drama. 

Great  excitement  these  plays  produced  among 
the  students  of  Jena,  who  were  zealous  theater- 
goers. Was  Froebel  among  them?  We  catch 
something  in  the  following  intimation :  "I  lived 
in  a  very  retired,  economical  way  during  my  stay 
at  the  University ;  I  appeared  seldom  in  public 
places.  Only  the  drama,  of  which  I  was  still 
passionately  fond,  did  I  visit  now  and  then." 
The  question  rises:  What  did  he  see  at  the 
theater  during  those  years?  Naturally  the  new 
plays  which  were  creating  the  most  excitement, 
and  which  were  the  talk  everywhere  in  University 
circles.  So  Froebel  must  have  seen  and  felt  the 
finest  bloom  and  the  highest  creative  activity  of 
Schiller,  who  had  been  a  professor  at  Jena,  leav- 
ing there  in  1799,  and  going  to  Weimar  to  devote 
himself  entirely  to  literary  work. 

It  was  the  habit  of  groups  of  students  to  walk 
over  from  Jena  and  fill  the  Weimar  theater  on 
special  occasions  and  then  walk  back.  Assuredly 
Froebel  took  this  trip,  easy  and  not  expensive, 
with  his  comrades.  He  does  not  say  that  he 
did  so  in  his  own  autobiography,  but  if  he  visited 
the  theater,  this  was  certainly  the  thing  for  him 
to  do.  And  we  must  recollect  that  a  certain  dra- 
matic element  was  never  absent  from  his  instruc- 
tion ;  the  boys  at  Keilhau  had  their  little  theater, 
and  their  puppet  play ;  they  acted  the  medieval 


FEOEBEL   AT  JENA.  55 

knight  as  well  as  warlike  operations  in  their 
games.  So  we  may  well  imagine  Froebel  tramp- 
ing across  the  country  to  see  Wallenstein  the 
first  year  of  its  production,  with  a  merry  band 
of  students. 

At  Weimar  lived  the  great  originative  spirit 
who,  more  than  any  other  man,  was  the  incarna- 
tion of  this  creative  period.  Goethe  was  not 
only  the  protector  and  fosterer  of  these  manifold 
activities,  philosophical,  literary,  scientific,  but 
largely  their  generating  source;  their  primitive 
fountain  lay  in  his  soul.  He  certainly  studied 
philosophy  and  carefully  looked  after  his  philoso- 
phers at  Jena,  though  he  claims  that  he  had  "  no 
philosophical  organ,"  and  often  shows  himself 
averse  to  metaphysical  speculation.  But  in  Poe- 
try, Art,  Science,  Literature  he  was  the  creative 
center.  The  darling  of  Nature  he  was,  upon 
whom  she  bestowed  her  choicest  gifts,  not  one 
but  many ;  she  would  play  upon  his  soul  all  her 
hidden  harmonies,  and  he  could,  respond  to  her 
softest  and  subtlest  breathings  in  the  music  of 
his  verse. 

But  not  merely  the  unconscious  child  of  Na- 
ture he  was ;  he  had  to  know  the  sources  of  his 
own  genius,  so  he  studied  Nature  with  the  keen, 
careful,  temperate  eye  of  science,  and  many  were 
the  secrets  which  he  made  her  tell  in  that  way. 
His  great  aim  was  to  behold  the  unity  of  Nature 
in  all  its  variations;  says  he,  "  every  creature  is 


56  THE    LIFE    OF   FBOEBEL. 

but  one  note  of  a  vast  harmony  which  we  have 
to  study  in  its  totality." 

Out  of  Goethe's  soul  really  flowed  that  thought 
of  unity  and  harmony  which  dominated  Jena  and 
Weimar  in  their  diverse  tendencies  and  pursuits, 
and  it  came  to  Froebel  in  various  ways,  unrecog- 
nized and  recognized,  during  his  stay.  It  was 
really  the  chief  thing  which  he  carried  away  with 
him  from  the  University. 

Such  was  the  man  now  in  supreme  authority 
over  this  world  —  truly  the  Zeus  of  Weimar. 
He  could  foster  every  talent,  however  different 
from  his  own ;  he  sought  to  give  to  every  indi- 
vidual a  true  field  for  development,  he  tried  to 
bring  every  displaced  genius  to  its  proper  envi- 
ronment, where  it  could  fully  unfold  according 
to  its  law.  If  he  saw  a  talent  out  of  position,  his 
immediate  impulse  was  to  transplant  it  into  its 
right  surroundings.  He  was  a  kind  of  second 
Providence  to  many  dislocated  abilities.  What 
a  time  did  he  not  have  with  his  capricious  recal- 
%trant  geniuses  gathered  around  him  at  Jena  and 
Weimar!  All  Olympians,  it  is  true,  with  the 
divine  spark  burning  in  them;  but  like  those 
other  deities  on  old  Olympus,  jealous,  headstrong, 
irritable,  even  conspiring  against  the  father  and 
protector  of  them  all,  Zeus  himself.  Much  he 
had  to  suffer,  even  as  Zeus ;  think  of  the  eternal 
irritations  of  sensitive  Herder  and  that  wife  of 
his,  the  high-strung  Caroline ;  think  how  he  tried 


FROEBEL   AT   JENA.  57 

to  save  and  protect  Fichte  from  his  own  Titanic 
folly,  till  at  last  the  Titan  revolted  and  defied 
Zeus  and  all  his  thunderbolts,  when  the  Titan 
had  to  be  whisked  out  of  Olympus. 

This  divinely  providential  element  in  Goethe, 
exercised  towards  the  lesser  divinities  as  well  as 
toward  poor  mortals,  was  a  greatness  equal  to  his 
divinely  poetical  genius,  indeed  brother  to  it, 
both  sprung  of  one  insight  into  the  divine  order 
of  the  world.  (7) 

Still  we  cannot  say  that  the  direct  influence  of 
Goethe  upon  Froebel  was  very  great  either  at 
Jena  or  afterwards.  Yet  their  educational  ideas 
often  ran  upon  parallel  lines ;  both  followed  the 
spirit  of  their  age  in  seeking  to  show  forth  what 
the  school  ought  to  be.  Froebel  made  his  ex- 
periments actual  at  Keilhau,  Goethe  kept  his 
experiment  ideal  in  the  pedagogic  province  as 
portrayed  in  the  Second  Part  of  Meister.  Prob- 
ably Goethe  knew  little  of  Keilhau,  though  it  was 
not  so  very  far  from  Weimar;  Froebel  never 
heard  or  read  of  Goethe's  pedagogic  province 
till  twenty  years  or  more  after  its  publica- 
tion, when  his  attention  was  called  to  it  by  the 
Baroness  von  Marenholtz-Biilow.  (8) 

Far  more  direct  and  important  was  the  influ- 
ence of  Schiller  upon  Froebel  and  Keilhau  for  a 
number  of  reasons.  Schiller  is  the  poet  of  the 
Real  and  Ideal,  that  is,  of  the  German  dualism 
in  all  its  intensity,  and  hence  he  is  the  national 


58  THE    LIFE    OF    FEOEBEL. 

poet,  by  virtue  of  his  limitation  as  well  as  of 
his  excellence.  Goethe  rises  above  this  dualism 
and  so  is  the  universal  poet.  Characteristic  it  is 
that  he  did  not  like  the  Romantic  School.  But 
Schiller's  genius  is  essentially  Romantic,  some- 
times in  spite  of  himself.  Chivalry,  knight- 
hood, the  medieval  world  make  the  setting  and 
the  theme  of  many  of  his  ballads,  which  were 
praised  and  sung  and  recited  by  the  men  and 
boys  of  Keilhau  as  they  tramped  over  the  hills 
and  through  the  valleys  of  Germany  in  a  kind  of 
educational  knight-errantry. 

V. 

Finale  at  Jena. 

Froebel  had  felt  great  joy  in  coming  to  Jena, 
he  had  escaped  from  tyranny  and  uncongenial 
life  at  home  into  a  free  and  harmonious  world. 
For  once  he  had  entered  paradise.  "  I  seemed 
transported  into  a  garden  full  of  all  sorts  of  ripe 
and  excellent  fruits,"  and  great  was  his  delight 
at  the  prospect. 

But  into  this  paradise  too  the  demon  enters. 
His  father  had  given  him  a  bank  draft  to  meet 
his  expenses  for  the  whole  time  of  his  stay. 
His  brother  Traugott,  who  was  still  at  Jena 
study  ing  medicine,  asked  him  for  a  loan,  promis- 
ing to  return  it  soon.  But  he  did  not,  and  the 
second  year  he  seems  to  have  quit  the  University, 


FEOEBEL  AT   JENA.  59 

and  left  his  young  brother  in  financial  straits. 
This  appears  to  have  produced  an  alienation  be- 
tween the  two  brothers,  which  was  never  after- 
wards healed. 

The  prudent  thing  for  Frederick  was  to  retire 
for  the  present  from  the  University,  as  at 
the  end  of  the  year  he  had  spent  all  his  money. 
But  he  could  not  bring  himself  to  quit  his  studies 
so  great  was  his  thirst  for  knowledge ;  he  would 
not  abandon  paradise  for  a  want  of  funds.  He 
thought  his  father  would  help  him  out  for  an- 
other term,  but  he  was  mistaken;  the  father 
stubbornly  refused  to  aid  his  son,  instigated  in 
his  opposition  by  the  step-mother,  as  Froebel 
thinks. 

Then  the  eager  youth  appealed  to  his  guardian 
for  the  remaining  portion  of  a  small  inheritance 
from  his  mother  still  due  him,  but  the  guardian 
refused  also,  taking  refuge  behind  a  legal  tech- 
nicality. Meantime  Frederick  has  to  eat,  and 
the  boarding-house  keeper  becomes  importunate 
and  hard-hearted.  The  outcome  is  that  Fred- 
erick Froebel  is  compelled  to  go  to  prison  for 
debt,  where  he  stays  nine  weeks.  (9) 

A  most  harsh,  painful  set  of  actions  all  around, 
from  brother,  father,  guardian,  step-mother  and 
boarding-house  keeper ;  really  the  prison  seems 
almost  to  have  been  a  relief.  He  had  fallen  into 
a  state  of  utter  misery  and  despondency ;  he  had 
ceased  attending  the  lectures  of  the  teachers  who 


60  THE    LIFE    OF    Fit OE BEL. 

had  not  been  paid.  Then  in  his  sensitiveness  he 
shunned  people  on  the  street  to  whom  he  owed 
nothing,  as  he  imagined  they  saw  in  him  the 
moneyless  debtor.  Thus  his  Paradise  has  turned 
into  an  Inferno  from  which  he  found  release  in 
the  prison  of  the  University.  There  he  was  fed 
at  least,  though  on  prison  fare,  and  was  rid  of 
those  pitiless  bloodhounds  —  the  dunners  for 
debts  which  a  man  cannot  pay.  Certainly  that 
prison  was  a  release.  Moreover,  he  could  study 
there,  as  it  was  a  University  prison,  just  made 
for  students.  Feeling  his  need  of  Latin,  he  be-r 
gan  to  take  lessons  in  that  tongue,  —  not  the 
first  of  many  unsuccessful  attempts.  Really  he 
could  not  learn  grammar,  which  he  called  dead 
and  disjointed.  He  took  a  glimpse  into  the 
Orient  through  the  Zendavesta,  the  Persian 
Bible.  Then  he  studied  Winkelmann's  "  Letters 
on  Art,"  he  is  going  to  expand  the  artistic  ele- 
ment of  his  nature.  Both  these  books  show  the 
impulse  to  widen  his  horizon,  which  he  had  re- 
ceived at  Jena.  Then  he  prepared  also  in  prison 
a  thesis  on  geometry,  really  his  favorite  study. 
Quite  a  little  curriculum  in  that  University 
prison. 

At  last  the  father  consented  to  advance  the 
money  necessary  for  his  son's  freedom,  if  the 
latter  would  renounce  before  the  University 
Court  all  claims  to  inheritance  on  the  paternal 
estate.  A  harsh  provision;  one  thinks  again  of 


FROEBEL   AT   JENA.  61 

that  jealous  step-mother  looking  out  for  her  own 
son.  But  he  has  gotten  his  freedom  and  he 
steps  out  of  his  prison-door  with  a  dislike  for 
Jena  and  all  memory  of  it,  from  which  he  never 
recovers. 

Such  is  the  account  which  Froebel  has  left  us 
of  the  unhappy  conclusion  of  his  Jena  career. 
He  was  certainly  treated  with  a  spirit  of  malignity 
by  those  who  ought  to  have  loved  him  and  helped 
him.  But  has  he  not  softened  his  own  share  of 
responsibility?  Certainly  he  persisted  in  staying 
when  his  money  was  gone;  he  took  the  chances^ 
and  the  chances  went  against  him  heavily.  Then 
another  thought  will  come  up  in  the  mind  of  the 
person  who  surveys  the  whole  life  of  Froebel : 
from  beginning  to  end  he  was  a  bad  debt-payer. 
Any  amount  of  trouble  he  caused  to  himself  and 
friends  on  account  of  this  trait.  He  did  not 
squander  the  money  on  himself,  but  in  the  pur- 
suit of  the  Idea  he  was  remorseless  with  his  own 
and  other  people's  property,  if  he  could  get  hold 
of  it.  He  often  made  promises  which  he  would 
not  or  could  not  fulfill,  not,  however,  with  any 
design  of  defrauding  for  the  sake  of  gain.  Still 
this  fact  has  been  the  cause  of  some  of  the  most 
serious  charges  brought  against  his  character. 
At  Jena  he  was  excusable,  being  a  mere  youth, 
inexperienced  of  the  world;  still  the  youth 
Froebel  throws  a  shadow  in  this  business  which 
calls  up  the  man  Froebel,  particularly  at  Keilhau. 


62  THE    LIFE    OF    FEOEBEL. 

The  outcome  of  the  Jena  experiment  was  very 
disagreeable  —  shame,  humiliation,  disappoint- 
ment. Later  in  life,  when  he  resolved  on  going 
again  to  the  University,  he  thought  of  Heidel- 
berg, Gottingen,  Berlin,  but  not  of  Jena.  He 
has  left  us  an  account  of  his  stay  at  Jena  in 
three  different  letters.  In  all  of  them  is  a  vein  of 
sharp  criticism  verging  on  bitterness,  a  sense  of 
having  suffered  deep  wrong.  Not  without  some 
justification,  we  say;  but,  on  the  other  hand  it 
must  be  confessed  that  there  is  no  adequate 
acknowledgment  of  the  great  things  he  obtained 
there.  He  mentions  what  he  studied  in  a  kind 
of  dry  critical  way,  but  he  shows  no  recognition 
of  the  enormous  stimulus  he  received  at  Jena, 
and  which  determined  his  life.  Froebel  really 
makes  there  his  connection  with  the  great  Ger- 
man, we  might  say,  the  great  European  spiritual 
renascence  of  our  modern  age.  To  be  sure,  he 
was  not  conscious  of  this  at  the  time,  and  after- 
wards he  may  never  have  been  fully  aware  of 
what  Jena  did  for  him.  But  what  he  did  know, 
he  was  loth  to  acknowledge. 

At  last,  however,  he  has  his  freedom,  and  now 
what  is  he  going  to  do  with  it?  Again  he  has  to 
make  the  choice  between  Scylla  and  Chary bdis, 
or  steer  his  life-boat  between  the  demon  and  the 
deep  sea.  Paradisaical  Jena  has  become  an  In- 
ferno, where  he  can  not  stay.  If  he  before  ran 
and  hid  in  his  room  to  keep  from  people  who 


FEOEBEL  AT  JENA.  63 

might  call  him  a  debtor  —  and  probably  some 
teasing  students  did  twit  him  with  this  disagree- 
able fact — what  now  would  he  have  to  suffer 
from  them,  tormenting  him  as  a  jail-bird?  He 
knew  and  probably  had  experienced  that  students 
in  their  unbridled  pranks  can  be  the  most  heart- 
less tormentors  in  this  world  —  worse  than  blood- 
thirsty, actually  pain-thirsty,  lovers  of  agony, 
sometimes  torturing  their  own  associates  even 
unto  death.  Bather  than  meet  this  carnivorous 
pack;  he  preferred  to  return  home  to  his  step- 
mother, to  his  father,  bad  as  it  was  there.  Such 
a  cup  of  life's  bitterness  the  youth  had  to  drain 
in  these  days,  and  the  reality  was,  in  appearance 
at  least,  diabolic. 

Still  in  all  this  we  may  see  the  training  of 
Frederick  Froebel  for  the  severe  life-task  which 
lies  before  him.  Steeled  he  must  become  to  the 
hardest  blows  of  Fate,  nay,  be  crushed  by  them 
into  the  earth,  and  then  rise  again  to  his  feet  out 
of  the  very  dust,  ready  for  another  onset.  He, 
that  rural  Thuringian  infant,  has  been  suckled  at 
Jena  by  the  Time-Spirit  with  her  mother's  milk, 
for  two  long  years  has  this  lactation  lasted,  and 
it  is  high  time  that  the  baby  be  weaned.  For 
he  is  not  to  be  an  erudite  professional  Dry-as-dust 
in  the  University  halls  of  learning,  but  a  soldier 
of  the  new  Crusade  against  the  Hosts  of  Night. 
Tough  must  be  his  sides  and  perdurable  his 
heart;  so  the  All-Mother  takes  him  and  flings 


64  THE   LIFE    OF   FBOEBEL. 

him  from  her  breast,  with  his  mouth  still  cling- 
ing to  her  nipple,  so  "sweet  to  him  is  the  draught 
of  knowledge.  Not  without  a  rude  shock  will 
the  youngster  let  go,  and  then  he  will  remain  in 
a  fit  of  sullenness  all  his  days  over  the  event, 
deeming  Alma  Mater,  who  took  him  at  first  so 
lovingly  to  her  bosom,  to  have  turned  step- 
mother, and  to  be  no  better  than  the  one  at  Ober- 
weissbach,  unto  whose  mercies  he  has  to  flee 
from  Jena. 


CHAPTER  THIRD. 
IN  PURSUIT  OF  A  VOCATION. 

We  now  come  to  the  most  changeful,  wander- 
ing, uncertain  part  of  Froebel's  changeful  life. 
Having  quit  Jena  and  been  thrown  back  upon  his 
father's  house,  which  he  had  hoped  to  have  left 
forever,  he  does  not  know  what  to  do  with  him- 
self. He  has  no  means,  having  spent  his 
mother's  and  renounced  his  father's  inheritance. 
He  has  no  trade,  no  vocation  by  which  to  earn 
his  bread.  Evidently  the  grand  question  now  is  : 
What  can  be  made  out  of  him? 

This  is  supremely  the  problem  with  Froebel 
himself.  Conscious  of  something  within  him 
which  will  not  let  him  stop,  he  is  driven  about 
from  one  pursuit  to  another,  from  one  employer 
to  another,  from  one  place  to  another,  in  a  state 

5  (05) 


UNIVERSITY 


66  THE    LIFE    OF    FROEBEL. 

of  absolute  unrest.  What  is  that  hidden  driving 
energy  which  goads  him  pitilessly,  till  he  finds 
the  thing  which  he  is  to  do  in  this  world?  Some 
unrealized  talent  is  prodding  him  forward  —  but 
what  is  it?  He  cannot  tell  himself.  Some  un- 
fulfilled destiny  hovers  vaguely  before  him,  but 
he  cannot  overtake  it  and  seize  it,  and  make  it 
give  up  its  secret. 

As  formerly  we  heard  the  question  from  his 
parents,  "  What  shall  be  clone  with  the  boy?  " 
so  now  he  hears  from  his  own  soul  the  much 
more  intricate  and  far-reaching  question,  "  What 
shall  I  do  with  myself?  "  Nineteen  years  old, 
just  the  age  for  stranding ;  quite  isolated  from 
everything  and  alone ;  separated  from  my  parents 
on  the  one  hand  and  from  the  University  on  the 
other ;  with  a  world  to  be  conquered  outside  of 
me,  and  what  is  harder,  with  a  world  to  be  con- 
quered inside  of  me ;  pray,  what  shall  I  do  with 
myself? 

So  we  may  imagine  young  Froebel  interro- 
gating just  now  the  Oracle  of  Life,  and  getting  a 
very  ambiguous  response.  He  must  believe, 
after  his  Jena  experience,  more  than  ever  in  the 
grand  chasm  between  the  Real  and  the  Ideal,  in 
their  complete  and  irreconcilable  separation, 
illustrated  so  remorselessly  in  his  own  case. 
Clearly  a  new  discipline  has  to  begin  at  this 
point,  to  the  end  that  he  may  discover  himself 
and  his  calling. 


Iff  PURSUIT  OF  A    VOCATION.  67 

Now  he  is  to  wander  four  years  (1801-5) 
through  the  fleeting  shadows  of  existence  which 
dance  around  him  and  lure  him  to  grasp  them  till 
he  finds  that  they  are  shadows,  testing  them  one 
after  another  in  a  long  line  of  delusive  appear- 
ances. At  last  his  weary  discipline  ends,  and 
one  day  the  voice  speaks  from  heaven :  "  Be  a 
teacher."  Of  a  sudden  the  shadows  vanish  for- 
ever and  forever,  he  seizes  the  reality  of  his  life 
at  its  very  heart,  and  finds  his  grand  terrestrial 
vocation.  Whereof  now  to  the  record. 

I. 

Wanderings. 

Very  naturally  our  young  Frederick  entered 
his  father's  house  with  a  sad  heart,  gloomy  fore- 
bodings, and  a  downcast  spirit.  Could  he  help 
remembering  with  what  joy  and  hope  he  had 
quit  there  two  years  before  for  the  ideal  end  of 
his  striving,  the  University  of  Jena?  Now  the 
latter  had  violently  hurled  him  back  upon  his 
first  miserable  condition  and  worse.  But  it  was 
spring,  and  loving  Nature  began  to  caress  him 
with  sunshine,  and  to  warm  him,  and  to  stir  him 
with  fresh  life  and  effort. 

Very  soon  Jena  starts  to  make  itself  felt  again, 
at  present  in  its  literary  influence.  *4  I  had  just 
recently  (namely  at  Jena)  become  acquainted 
with  the  names  of  Goethe,  Schiller,  Wi eland  and 


68  THE   LIFE    OF   FEOEBEL. 

others  (of  the  Weimar  celebrities)."  In  his 
present  leisure  he  evidently  began  to  read  these 
authors,  obeying  that  impulse  received  at  the 
University.  But  it  must  be  confessed  that 
Froebel  never  knew  much  about  literature,  its 
great  heroes  were  never  his,  he  never  was  able 
to  weave  it  into  his  inner  life.  His  expression 
was  not  literary,  at  least  his  best  expression  was 
not. 

More  attractive  to  him  was  "  a  survey  of  the 
total  field  of  human  knowledge,"  from  a  work 
called  Mappe  du  Monde  literaire,  a  book  of  gen- 
eral information  duly  classified  under  certain 
heads  which  gave  * «  an  abstract  of  all  the  sciences 
and  arts  in  their  ramifications."  By  this  he  was 
led  to  make  a  scrap-book  of  his  own,  composed 
of  all  sorts  of  extracts  from  periodicals  to  which 
he  had  access  in  his  father's  house.  Such  a  col- 
lection young  people  of  a  studious  turn  are 
usually  inclined  to  make  at  Froebel's  time  of 
life. 

In  a  remote  part  of  the  house  he  occupied  a 
little  room  whose  windows  were  latticed  with  iron 
rods ;  he  had  again  fled  to  his  ideal  world  and 
was  happy  at  his  task,  when  his  father  walked  in 
upon  him  one  day.  The  old  man  looked  at  the 
work  and  then  branded  it  as  a  "  foolish  waste  of 
time  and  paper."  No  encouragement  for  the 
youth's  aspiration,  on  the  contrary  downright 
smothering  and  suppression ;  but  at  this  moment 


IN  PURSUIT  OF  A    VOCATION.  69 

his  brother  Christoph  steps  in  on  a  visit  from  his 
parish,  sympathizes,  intercedes,  wards  off  the 
father,  and  rescues  Frederick,  as  he  had  often 
done  before,  "  seeing  in  him  the  image  of  the 
mother." 

Clearly  something  must  be  done  with  this  idle 
fellow  wasting  time  and  paper  in  making  scrap- 
books  of  universal  knowledge.  He  must  be  put 
to  work,  and  that  too,  solid  work. 

Accordingly  the  father  sends  him  to  some 
relatives  who  had  a  farm  at  Hilburghhausen, 
where  he  cultivates  the  soil  for  a  while,  "  with- 
out, however,  being  enchanted  by  the  occupa- 
tion." 

At  this  time  he  begins  to  regret  his  misunder- 
standing with  his  father,  and  resolves  to  take  the 
first  step  toward  reconciliation  by  writing  a  peni- 
tential letter.  He  knew  that  his  father  was  near 
the  grave,  and  he  could  not  endure  to  have  him 
pass  beyond  without  being  reconciled.  But  be- 
fore the  letter  was  written,  he  was  called  home 
by  the  father,  who  also  seems  to  have  wished  to 
see  his  cast-off  son  near  him  in  his  last  days. 
The  latter  came  and  assisted  his  weak,  bed-ridden 
parent  in  writing  and  otherwise,  and  they  appear 
to  have  found  one  another  at  the  final  parting. 
The  father  soon  died  (1802);  both  were  soft- 
ened in  their  views  of  each  other,  and  the  step- 
mother apparently  vanished  out  of  these  closing 
scenes  between  father  and  son. 


70  THE    LIFE    OF   FEOEBEL. 

Froebel  now  felt  himself  a  free  man,  he  could 
direct  his  own  life  as  he  chose.  No  longer  under 
the  control  of  father  and  step-mother,  he  feels 
his  new  liberty  and  proposes  to  enjoy  it.  Still 
he  has  to  do  something  for  his  bread.  He 
obtains  the  position  of  actuary  in  the  adminis- 
trative department  of  the  bishopric  of  Bamberg. 
At  first  he  took  pleasure  in  his  new  place ;  his 
duties  were  not  heavy,  the  surrounding  scenery 
delightful,  and  so  he  again  "lived  in  and  with 
Nature."  His  position  seems  to  have  been 
hardly  more  than  a  clerkship,  and  at  last  he  grew 
tired  of  "  the  everlasting  scribbling  "  which  was 
required  of  him  by  the  place. 

Here  his  chief  acquisition  was  a  friend  whose 
name  he  does  not  mention,  and  who  will  after- 
wards serve  him  many  a  good  turn.  This  friend 
was  a  domestic  tutor,  highly  educated,  while 
"  my  school-training  was  defective."  Note  this 
confession  on  the  part  of  Froebel  himself,  as  the 
fact  was  important  through  his  whole  life.  This 
friend  had  also  "  grand  plans  of  education,"  of 
which  he  was  fond  of  talking,  and  thereby  was 
watered  a  little  unconscious  germ  in  Froebel's 
own  soul. 

Another  point  of  his  inner  culture  must  not  be 
passed  over.  In  the  library  of  the  head  official, 
to  which  he  had  access,  he  found  some  collec- 
tions of  aphorisms,  "  sayings,  thoughts,  observa- 
tions on  life,  culled  from  ancient  and  modern 


IN  PURSUIT  OF  A    VOCATION.  71 

thinkers."  This  proverbial  philosophy  he 
"wove  into  his  living  and  thinking,"  and  he 
made  extracts  of  the  most  appropriate  ones 
which  he  always  carried  about  in  his  pocket. 
This  aphoristic  tendency  will  show  itself  in 
Froebel's  method  of  expression  and  of  his 
thought;  he  will  write  his  own  Book  of  Aphor- 
isms (1821),  and  the  aphoristic  style  will  show 
itself  decidedly  in  the  Education  of  Man 
(1826).  Truly  does  he  say  of  this  time,  "My 
whole  inner  life  grew  and  entwined  itself  in  and 
around  these  aphorisms."  (10) 

In  a  year's  time  or  less  he  finds  that  this 
"everlasting  scribbling"  of  a  clerkship  is  not 
his  vocation.  So  in  the  spring  of  1803  he  throws 
up  his  situation  and  resolves  to  try  his  hand  at 
land-surveying  in  which  he  had  become  inter- 
ested. He  had  already  heard  lectures  on  this 
subject  at  Jena,  and  before  that  time  seems  to 
have  had  a  little  experience.  He  made  applica- 
tion at  Bamberg,  and  received  some  temporary 
employment,  but  no  permanent  position. 

During  one  of  these  engagements  he  meets  a 
young  Doctor  of  Philosophy  who  had  been  at 
Jena,  and  who  was  imbued  with  the  doctrines  of 
Schelling.  Froebel  had  seen  him  already  at 
Jena,  and  of  course  they  talked  over  and  dis- 
cussed the  greatest  influence  in  their  University. 
The  young  man  gave  him  Schelling' s  Bruno  to 
read  which  had  not  long  before  appeared. 


72  THE   LIFE    OF    FROEBEL. 

Froebel  says,  "this  book  aroused  me  mightily, 
I  believed  I  understood  it."  This  sounds  as  if 
he  had  come  to  the  conclusion  that  he  did 
not  understand  the  book  at  the  date  of  the  cited 
letter  (1827).  But  we  note  again  that  the  un- 
recognized Jena  influence  is  making  itself  felt. 

The  young  Doctor,  however,  completely  be- 
fogged Froebel  by  his  final  advice :  "Be  on 
your  guard  against  philosophy,  it  leads  to  doubt 
and  night.  Devote  yourself  to  art,  it  gives  life, 
and  peace  and  delight."  Art  is  the  supreme 
matter  in  one  stage  of  Schelling's  philosophizing, 
and  the  young  Doctor  was  literally  following  his 
master,  but  Froebel  was  badly  upset,  for  he  re- 
garded philosophy  as  something  belonging  to  the 
life  of  man,  and  specially  to  the  inner  life,  while 
art  lay  far  away  in  his  horizon. 

Amid  many  little  fluctuations,  outer  and  inner, 
we  find  Froebel  early  in  1804  accepting  the 
position  of  private  secretary  to  an  important 
official,  Von  Dewitz,  who  was  then  living  on  one 
of  his  estates  called  Gross  Milchow.  In  the 
meantime  Froebel  goes  to  another  man  and  per- 
forms the  duties  of  bookkeeper  and  accountant. 
With  this  work  too  he  soon  becomes  dissatisfied, 
he  feels  his  vocation  is  not  that  of  a  bookkeeper 
or  private  secretary,  and  so  meditates  another 
change. 

In  this  period  too,  he  was  not  without  mental 
stimulation,  and  he  had  a  good  deal  of  intellectual 


IN  PURSUIT  OF  A    VOCATION.  73 

companionship.  He  mentions  books  which  he 
read  and  which  produced  a  strong  influence  upon 
him.  One  of  these  was  the  writings  of  Novalis, 
with  which  he  felt  great  sympathy.  "  The  book 
revealed  to  me  my  own  soul  laid  bare  in  its  most 
hidden  impulse  and  aspiration,  the  innermost 
striving  and  struggling  of  my  spirit.  I  seemed 
to  walk  with  that  book  in  me,  and  if  anything 
happened  to  that  book,  I  felt  as  if  it  would 
happen  to  me,  and  even  more  deeply  and  pain- 
fully." 

Very  congenial  is  Novalis  to  Froebel,  indeed 
they  are  in  a  number  of  traits  spiritual  brothers. 
Novalis  was  one  of  the  leading  Romanticists,  he 
has  been  called  the  prophet  of  Romanticism. 
He  often  visited  Jena  in  1799-1801,  hovering 
about  the  house  of  the  Schlegels,  of  whom  Fred- 
erick Schlegel  was  his  chief  friend  and  admirer. 
Young  Froebel  may  have  seen  the  tall,  consump- 
tive, dreamy  young  fellow  (he  died  in  1801) 
with  Tieck  and  the  other  members  of  the  Roman- 
tic School  which  had  its  bloom  at  Jena  in  1799. 
Novalis'  chief  doctrine  was  that  all  Nature  was  a 
symbol  of  spirit,  which  doctrine  Froebel  imbibed 
with  untold  joy  and  will  hereafter  apply  in  mar- 
velous ways.  (11) 

So  Froebel  must  again  change,  and  he  must 
now  find  his  real  vocation.  His  nameless  friend, 
the  private  tutor  of  Bamberg,  urges  him  by  letter 
to  go  to  Frankfort,  and  there  to  study  architec- 


74  THE    LIFE    OF    FBOEBEL. 

ture,  which  he  had  settled  upon.  But  the  poor 
fellow  had  no  money,  and  he  writes  to  his 
brother,  whose  answer  he  fears,  since  another  of 
these  changes  indicating  his  unchangeable  change- 
fulness,  is  contemplated.  But  his  brother  is 
sympathetic,  and  announces  to  him  that  he  has 
received  a  small  legacy  through  the  death  of  his 
uncle  Hoffmann. 

Thus  Providence  again  flings  a  little  cash  into 
the  empty  hands  of  Frederick  Froebel  at  a  turn- 
ing-point of  his  life,  as  had  before  been  the  case 
when  he  went  to  Jena.  And  again  this  help 
comes  from  his  mother's  side,  as  if  she  were  still 
maintaining  an  unseen  guardianship  over  the  son 
whom  she  left  in  the  cradle. 

Still  at  this  time  he  had  gleams  of  a  premo- 
nition of  what  was  to  be  his  future  calling.  He 
wrote  in  the  album  of  a  friend  the  following  sen- 
tences: "  Be  thy  aim  to  give  bread  to  men;  let 
my  striving  be  to  give  men  to  themselves." 

One  thinks,  in  this  expression,  of  the  mystical 
prophetic  manner  of  Novalis,  whom  Froebel  had 
just  been  absorbing.  A  remote  unconscious 
aspiration  to  be  an  educator  of  men  lies  in  the 
words. 

But  his  conscious  purpose  at  present  is  to  be- 
come an  architect.  Accordingly  in  May,  1805,  he 
leaves  his  position,  and  visits  his  elder  brother 
Christoph  and  imparts  his  new  plans,  and  the 
strong  desire  of  his  heart.  Somewhat  unexpect- 


IN  PURSUIT  OF  A   VOCATION.  75 

edly  the  brother  spoke  with  approval,  and  re- 
vealed .a  secret  bit  of  his  own  history.  He  too 
in  his  youth  had  high  ambitions,  but  the  iron  will 
of  the  father  chained  him  down  to  his  present 
vocation  which  he  could  not  now  change.  So  he 

o        • 

bids  the  aspiring  Frederick  to  follow  the  inner 
call  faithfully  and  without  flinching. 

The  young  man  went  forth,  elevated  in  mood 
and  strengthened  in  resolution  by  the  strong,  sym- 
pathetic words  of  the  brother.  His  road  led  him 
over  the  Wartburg,  Germany's  Holy  Mountain, 
which  Froebel  now  beheld  thinking  of  Luther, 
the  valiant  soldier  of  truth,  yet  also  thinking  that 
Luther  had  still  left  much  to  be  done,  that  is, 
much  for  Froebel  to  do.  And  so  in  a  few  days 
he  reaches  Frankfort. 

On  looking  back  at  these  four  years  which  we 
have  briefly  summarized  from  the  Autobiography, 
the  notable  matter  is  the  instability  of  Froebel, 
whose  outer  and  inner  life  appear  in  total  dis- 
cord. He  changes  six  times  at  least,  not  count- 
ing the  smaller  shif tings,  going  from  place  to 
place,  from  employer  to  employer,  from  one 
occupation  to  another. 

,Very  billowy  and  mutable  was  this  outer  life, 
but  underneath  we  note  a  continuous  influence  of 
Jena,  that  is,  of  the  unmentioned  Jena.  He 
still  is  working  at  philosophy  and  specially  at 
Schelling;  then,  too,  he  develops  the  literary 
impulse  which  came  from  Weimar  and  Jena ;  also 


76  THE    LIFE    OF    FROEBEL. 

he  keeps  up  the  acquaintance  with  the  Romantic 
School  through  its  prophet  Novalis,  and  shows 
the  strongest  sympathy.  Thus  the  three  un- 
recognized influences  of  Jena,  as  set  forth  in 
the  preceding  chapter,  are  what  are  now  perpet- 
uating themselves  in  his  life,  and  are  more  com- 
pletely connecting  him  with  the  great  spiritual 
renascence  of  Europe,  which  had  its  chief  seat 
in  Germany  and  created  modern  German  Liter- 
ature, as  its  highest  expression. 

Strangely,  the  practical  studies  of  Jena  are 
what  he  is  changing,  he  passes  from  one  to  an- 
other, such  as  surveying,  drawing  of  maps, 
accounts,  etc.  But  he  cannot  content  himself 
with  a  vocation,  which  simply  gives  him  a  phys- 
ical existence. 

Accordingly,  we  behold  in  this  chapter  two 
strands,  an  outer  and  inner;  one  of  practical 
life,  of  occupation,  yet  producing  unrest  and  dis- 
content; the  other  shows  his  aspiration,  his 
desire  for  culture,  his  steady  pursuit  of  self- 
developnient.  Thus  his  real  and  his  ideal  worlds 
are  discordant,  opposed,  strifeful.  The  grand 
question  with  him  is :  How  can  they  be  harmo- 
nized? The  outer  strand  is  money-making,  or 
bread-winning,  a  necessity  like  fate;  the  inner 
is  man-making,  soul-building,  and  its  end  is 
freedom. 

But  let  us  glance  at  him  in  his  new  situation 
and  see  whether  this  long-continued  travail  is 


IN  PURSUIT  OF  A    VOCATION.  77 

going  to  bring  forth  his  vocation,  whereby  his 
tormenting  demonic  world-pain  (  Weltschmerz) 
may  be  gotten  out  of  him,  and  thus  ended,  to  his 
and  our  great  relief. 

II. 

Be  a  Teacher. 

Froebel  has  now  arrived  at  Frankfort  in  the 
course  of  his  restless  meanderings  of  body  and 
soul.  It  was  midsummer  1805,  when  he  reached 
that  city,  which  lies  in  the  heart  of  Germany 
and  is  ever  memorable  as  the  birth-place  of  the 
greatest  of  Germans,  Goethe.  An  important, 
social  and  political  center  Frankfort  was  then, 
with  a  good  deal  of  civic  pride  and  independence, 
though  overshadowed  by  the  despotic  power  of 
Napoleon. 

The  object  of  Froebel  was  to  study  archi- 
tecture. His  resolution  seemed  fixed,  he  had 
done  something  already  in  that  line,  and  now  he 
will  settle  down  to  a  vocation,  having  made  his 
final  choice.  Much  has  he  fluctuated,  drifting 
from  this  thing  to  that ;  twenty-three  years  of 
existence  have  circled  over  him,  surely  it  is  time 
for  him  to  anchor  his  bark  on  something  stable. 

Scarcely  has  the  project  taken  shape,  when 
an  inner  protest  again  begins  surging  mightily 
within  him .  He  questions  himself :  "Is  this  new 
vocation  my  true  business  in  life?  Can  I  use  it 
for  the  betterment  of  man?"  Thus  the  inner 


78  THE    LIFE    OF   F  ROE  BEL. 

genius  rises  in  secret  revolt,  and  the  soul  becomes 
a  fresh  battle-ground  of  contending  powers. 

Still  Froebel  keeps  firm  to  his  resolution,  for 
this  unsettled,  fluctuating,  wandering  vagabond- 
age must  be  brought  to  an  end.  So  he  begins 
his  study  under  an  architect;  with  a  kind  of 
violence  he  flings  himself  upon  his  work.  Yet 
every  pulse  within  him  was  throbbing  backward 
in  rebellion. 

These  architectural  studies,  present  and  past, 
have,  notwithstanding,  left  their  mark  upon 
Froebel  and  his  scheme  of  education.  Ever 
afterwards  we  shall  find  him  employing  construc- 
tion as  a  means  of  training.  He  loved  to  build 
the  house,  but  far  better,  he  loved  to  build  the 
soul,  which  indeed  was  just  his  true  vocation, 
of  which  he  is  now  in  search.  So  he  is  destined 
to  use  house-building,  not  for  its  own  sake,  but 
for  soul-building;  it  is  to  become  a  grand  edu- 
cative means  in  his  hands,  whereof  the  great  ex- 
ample is  seen  in  the  Building  Gifts  of  the  Kin-- 
dergarden,  through  which  the  little  child  is  led 
to  build  within  by  building  without. 

No  wonder,  then,  that  the  young  man  was 
unhappy  at  Frankfort.  He  was  carrying  around 
within  himself  the  deepest  sort  of  inner  scission. 
That  which  he  was  called  to  do  in  this  life  he  was 
not  doing,  he  had  chosen  a  vocation  in  which  he 
could  not  realize  his  best  self,  and  great  was  the 
tumult  thereof. 


IN  PURSUIT  OF  A    VOCATION.  79 

And  now  enters  the  unforeseen  outer  circum- 
stance which  interweaves  itself 'just  at  the  turn- 
ing-point into  the  uncertain,  vacillating  human 
spirit,  and  makes  it  conscious  of  its  destiny,  de- 
termining its  course  ever  afterward.  The  total 
universe  in  its  providential  ordering  seems  to  bring 
forth  a  small,  apparently  insignificant  event  and 
to  give  to  it  a  voice  which  speaks  exactly  the 
right  word  to  the  struggling  soul  at  the  critical 
moment  of  its  new  birth  or  of  its  new  career.  If 
Homer  were  singing  this  epic  of  Froebel,  a  God, 
or  perchance  a  Goddess,  would  now  appear  and 
say  the  divine  thing  to  the  doubting  youth,  who 
would  therein  find  the  solution  of  all  his  difficult- 
ies. Let  it  be  Pallas  Athena  as  she  once  came 
down  from  Olympus  to  the  young  Telemachus  in 
sunny  Ithaca,  when  he  stood  hesitating  at  the  cross- 
roads of  his  career,  and  spoke  to  him  her  heavenly 
word  of  hope  and  direction,  pointing  out  the  way 
he  should  henceforth  go. 

But  instead  of  a  grand  divine  epiphany  at  this 
point ,  the  modern  biographer  can  simply  record  that 
our  young  man,  Froebel,  was  introduced  one  day 
not  long  after  his  arrival  to  Doctor  Anton  Gruner, 
head  of  the  Model  School  of  Frankfort,  an  en- 
thusiastic pedagogue  and  a  fervent  disciple  of  the 
great  Swiss  educator  Pestalozzi  whose  pupil  he 
had  been,  and  whose  methods  he  followed  in  his 
school.  Other  teachers  were  there,  aspiring,  full 
.of  joy  in  their  calling;  among  them  Froebel 


80  THE    LIFE    OF    FROEBEL. 

found  congenial  conversation.  One  of  these 
talks  turned  upon  life  and  its  object ;  with  frank- 
ness Froebel  gave  utterance  to  himself,  letting 
the  company  take  a  peep  into  his  heart  just  now 
tossing  between  hope  and  doubt,  and  he  showed 
them  some  shadowy  outlines  of  that  vague  ideal 
end  of  his  with  its  dreamy  yet  persistent  beckon- 


mgs. 


Gruner  listened,  threw  a  glance  into  the  seeth- 
ing depths  of  that  chaotic  soul  before  him,  and 
spoke  these  winged  words : 

"  Be  a  teacher;  give  up  architecture,  it  is  not 
your  vocation." 

Such  was  the  voice  which  came  from  Heaven 
to  the  struggling  youth,  and  at  once  he  knew 
(like  Telemachus  of  old)  that  it  was  the  voice  of 
a  God.  Yet  he  is  at  first  overwhelmed  at  the 
proposal,  and  hesitates,  though  his  friend  at  his 
side  urges  him  to  accept  on  the  spot.  But 
Froebel  had  never  taught,  had  never  entertained 
consciously  the  idea  of  becoming  a  teacher.  No 
preparation,  no  position ;  where,  how  shall  I  begin? 

Gruner  again  speaks,  being  verily  the  divine 
voice  incarnate  for  Froebel  in  this  conjuncture. 
He  adds  to  his  former  statement:  "  We  need  a 
teacher  in  our  school  just  now;  if  you  consent, 
the  place  shall  be  yours."  Inspired  Gruner  (for 
so  we  must  deem  him  in  the  present  affair)  thus 
gives  the  golden  opportunity  to  Froebel,  after 
speaking  the  God-sent  word  of  destiny. 


IN  PURSUIT  OF  A    VOCATION.  81 

Still  the  young  man  hesitates,  asks  time  to 
think  the  matter  over.  Well  he  may,  for  it 
seems  a  complete  upsetting  of  all  his  plans. 
Soon,  however,  he  hears  that  his  testimonials, 
which  were  to  be  sent  to  him,  and  which  he 
held  to  be  very  necessary  to  his  success  in 
the  prosecution  of  his"  intended  calling,  had 
been  lost.  Listen  to  him  now:  "  I  interpreted 
this  mishap  to  signify  that  Providence  Himself 
had  broken  down  the  bridge  behind  me  and  cut 
off  my  retreat.  Willingly,  joyfully  I  seized  the 
offered  hand,  and  soon  was  teacher  in  the  Model 
School  at  Frankfort-on-the-Main." 

Such  is  his  own  record  of  his  second  birth, 
the  birth  into  the  work  which  he  has  to  do  in 
this  life,  after  many  pains  of  parturition.  Yes, 
the  child  is  actually  born,  and  the  sympathetic 
reader  will  greet  the  new  appearance  with  a 
hearty  salutation : 

Ich  salutire  dich  zum  neuen  Lebenslauf. 
» 

III. 

Transition. 

So  we  have  made  the  great  transition  from  the 
youth  Froebel  to  the  schoolmaster  Froebel  — 
from  the  uncertain,  fluctuating  youth  with  all 
that  inner  sea  of  possibilities,  fermenting,  gener- 
ating, seeking  to  give  birth  to  something,  into 
the  grand  reality  of  his  life,  his  God-sent  voca- 


82  THE    LIFE    OF    FEOEBEL. 

tion,  which  is  to  call  into  activity  every  good  and 
noble  germ  in  his  soul,  with  a  weed  or  two 
sprouting  in  between  now  and  then,  it  must  be 
confessed.  A  great  event  for  him,  and  interest- 
ing to  the  interested  reader  of  this  book,  who 
has  had  or  will  have,  or  perchance  even  now  has 
just  such  a  Crisis  in  life: 

Quite  a  discipline  the  youth  has  passed  through 
with  father,  step-mother,  uncle,  brother,  and 
with  the  whole  line  of  employments  and  em- 
ployers, as  they  have  risen  in  shadowy  procession 
through  the  meanderings  of  the  preceding  narra- 
tive. But  all  this  he  might  have  undergone 
without  becoming  Froebel  the  educator,  if  we 
except  one  apparently  fortuitous  event.  All  this 
and  worse  than  all  this  others  have  experienced 
without  its  making  them  people  of  any  great 
consequence  in  the  world.  What  then  shall  we 
select  as  the  specially  shaping  fact  in  the  fore- 
going chain  of  incidents  of  Froebel' s  youth? 

At  Jena  the  poor  motherless  country-boy,  by 
an  accident  happening  to  be  turned  that  way, 
received  a  marvelous  adoption  by  a  new  mother, . 
who  took  him  to  her  bosom  and  gave  him  of  her 
immediate  sustenance,  veritably  the  ambrosial 
food  of  genius.  Among  all  the  youths  there  at 
Jena  assembled,  the  most  ungainly  and  unlikely, 
the  least  prepared  probably,  if  we  judge  by 
external  signs,  him  she  elects  at  the  opening  of 
the  new  century  to  be  the  educator  for  the 


IN  PURSUIT  OF  A    VOCATION.  83 

future  —  a  most  remarkable  choice,  if  we  look  at 
appearances.  Still  she  takes  him  as  her  infant, 
so  to  speak,  and  rears  him  and  trains  him  just  to 
be  the  great  trainer  of  all  human  infancy,  which 
is  soon  to  be  the  grand  new  field  of  education. 

The  most  important  event,  therefore,  the  truly 
genetic  event  in  the  youthful  period  of  Froebel, 
is  the  fact  which  we  have  already  sought  to  ex- 
press in  the  statement:  at  Jena  Froebel  was 
suckled  by  the  Time-Spirit.  For  she  is  the 
mother  of  all  geniuses,  who  get  their  creative 
principle  from  her  sustenance,  and  who,  whatever 
be  their  natural  gifts,  must  be  at  some  period  of 
their  career  fed  on  her  mother 's-milk  if  they  are 
to  do  anything  truly  original  and  masterful  —  do 
any  deed  or  think  any  thought  which  whisks  the 
ages  around  a  new  corner  or  leads  mankind  into  a 
new  epoch. 

And  now,  out  of  this  seething  hurly-burly  of 
youthful  change  and  manifold  striving,  we  have 
seen  the  young  man  unfold  into  his  permanent 
element,  into  his  vocation  from  which  he  will 
never  henceforth  swerve,  though  within  its  bounds 
he  will  have  to  undergo  still  a  great  training,  and 
to  pass  through  his  share  of  the  ups  and  downs 
of  human  existence. 


Book  Seconb. 


Such  is  the  term  which  seems  at  last,  after 
some  waiting  and  spying  around  for  a  better,  the 
most  appropriate  to  designate  Froebel  during 
this  long  middle  period  of  his  life,  lasting  thirty 
years.  He  is  teacher — subordinate,  principal, 
enthroned,  dethroned,  expatriated — the  whole 
scale  of  human  destiny  he  runs  through,  from  the 
highest  to  the  lowest  note.  Still  he  keeps  his  eye 
fixed  unswervingly  on  the  one  great  lode-star,  his 
vocation,  though  the  storms  of  life  dash  him 
hither  and  thither  on  many  shores  —  from  Frank- 
fort where  he  has  now  arrived,  through  Keilhau, 
where  he  will  stay  many  years,  to  Switzerland, 
(84) 


THE  SCHOOLMASTEB  FEOEBEL.      85 

where  he  will  conclude  his  schoolmaster's  jour- 
ney manship,  and  pass  over  into  his  kindergarden 
epoch. 

Now  this  our  Second  Book,  quite  lengthy,  di- 
versified and  complicated  though  it  be  in  its 
happenings,  has  yet  one  great  central  fact  which 
we  may  here  call  for  short  the  tragedy  of  Keil- 
hau,  the  rise  and  fall  of  Froebel  as  principal  of 
the  boys'  school  there,  coupled  with  a  mighty 
domestic  undercurrent,  which  when  brought  to 
the  surface  as  it  must  be,  reveals  the  working  of 
the  Fates  and  Furies  of  the  Family  Froebel.  A 
play  of  these  Dark  Powers  strangely  passes  be- 
fore us,  which  recalls  the  fabled  House  of  Pelops 
with  its  old  Greek  revel  in  the  hates  of  kindred, 
of  course  without  the  ancient  savagery  of  blood 
and  murder. 

The  present  is,  therefore,  the  middle  Book, 
and  hence  is  transitional,  mediatorial,  and  spe- 
cially disciplinary.  Schoolmaster  our  Froebel  is 
here,  but  he  is  in  training,  often  terrific  in  its 
laceration  of  the  soul,  for  another  and  in  his 
case  higher  vocation  —  to  be  founder  of  the 
kindergarden.  Throughout  this  Second  Period 
there  is  a  secret  undertow  which  rises  to  the  top 
in  the  Third  Period  and  becomes  the  culmination 
'and  fulfillment  of  his  life's  task. 

Picking  up  Froebel  where  we  last  dropped 
him  we  find  that  he  has  received  a  new  birth,  as 
it  were,  being  now  born  into  the  consciousness 


86  THE    LIFE    OF    FBOEBEL. 

of  what  is  to  be  his  work  in  this  world.  Signifi- 
cant is  such  a  moment  to  us  all ;  specially  so  to 
the  drifting  youth  Froebel,  who  on  the  spot 
begins  to  unite  those  two  warring  elements  of 
his  previous  life,  the  external  and  the  internal 
needs,  or  the  bread-winning  and  the  soul-devel- 
oping; the  Real  and  Ideal,  hitherto  in  furious 
discord,  begin  to  coalesce  in  the  new  vocation. 

His  inner  aspiration  had  been,  as  he  states, 
"  perfection  of  myself,"  which,  however,  clashed 
horribly  with  his  economical  calling,  and  drove 
him  with  a  whip  of  thorns  over  all  Germany. 
But  when  he  sees  that  he  must  share  what  he 
receives,  that  he  must  give  away  the  spiritual 
gift  which  he  gets  in  order  to  possess  it  truly, 
then  he  becomes  the  educator ;  his  own  pursuit 
of  culture  will  be  selfish  unless  he  turns  it  back 
and  imparts  its  fruits  unto  others  —  which  is 
instruction.  Not  acquisition,  merely,  but  also 
impartation  must  be  his ;  thus  he  has  united  the 
struggling  dualism  between  vocation  and  aspira- 
tion. 

So  he  becomes  teacher,  and  he  feels  soon  that 
"  the  ideal  of  human  perfection  which  I  bore 
within  me  I  had  the  capacity  and  the  energy  to 
realize  outside  of  me,"  and  that  this  was  the  inner 
ability  of  the  teacher.  "  As  the  realization  of 
the  perfect  man  is  the  highest  which  the  mind 
can  conceive,  so  a  life  devoted  to  the  education 
of  the  human  race  is  the  worthiest  and  highest 


THE   SCHOOLMASTER   F  ROE  BEL.  87 

conceivable  life.  And  the  pursuit  of  this  end  is 
what  ennobles  and  perfects  the  man."  (12) 

Truly  a  lofty  view  of  his  new  calling,  to  which 
he  now  remains  faithful  to  the  end  of  life.  No 
more  soul-drifting,  no  more  uncertainty  about 
his  vocation ;  he  has  sealed  his  life  with  an  inner 
vow,  he  is  a  consecrated  spirit  to  his  cause. 

Speaking  of  this  period  later  in  the  same  letter, 
he  says:  "  From  this  moment  on,  I  determined 
to  give  up  my  life  wholly  to  education,  for  I  was 
convinced  that  only  a  life  devoted  to  education 
could  procure  in  me,  and  outside  of  me  in  the 
world,  the  existence  most  fervently  desired,  and 
long  since  dimly  anticipated  —  that  existence 
which  was  working  within  me  as  a  dark  presenti- 
ment, when  I  intended  to  live  in  the  country. 
Everything  which  I  then  dreamed  of,  I  saw  real- 
ized in  my  new  vocation." 

Let  the  foregoing  extracts  (designated  by 
quotation  marks)  serve  as  a  kind  of  suggestive 
prelude  to  the  coining  Book,  all  of  them  being 
taken  from  a  letter  of  Froebel's  to  his  brother 
Christoph,  written  within  two  years  after  his  start 
at  Gruner's.  Four  chapters  are  in  this  Book  — 
but  let  us  pass  at  once  to  the  first,  which  brings 
before  us  Froebel,  the  schoolmaster,  taking  his 
long  pedagogical  course,  never  before  or  since 
heard  of  in  any  Normal  School. 


CHAPTER  FIRST. 

FROEBEL  AS    TEACHER  AND  PUPIL. 

Thus  we  characterize  Froebel  in  the  present 
portion  of  his  career:  he  is  both  teacher  and 
pupil,  the  educator  must  be  educated  to  his  voca- 
tion. Born  teacher  he  is,  no  doubt ;  still  even 
the  artisan,  the  blacksmith,  has  to  learn  the  use 
of  his  tools,  hammer  and  tongs  and  anvil. 
Plumped  suddenly  down  into  Gruner's  school,  he 
is  required  to  teach  without  ever  having  taught 
before,  without  ever  having  had  even  the  idea  of 
teaching,  so  he  says;  what  can  he  do?  He  finds 
that  he  must,  first  of  all,  know  something  about 
his  profession;  so  he  at  once  hastens  off  to 
Pestalozzi,  the  Swiss  schoolmaster  at  Yverdon, 
with  whom  Gruner  was  closely  connected,  to 
take  some  instruction.  He  returns  to  Frankfort 
soon  and  begins  his  work ;  with  success  outwardly, 
(88) 


FEOEBEL  AS   TEACHER  AND  PUPIL.          89 

but  with  deep  inner  dissatisfaction,  for  he  does 
not  know  his  vocation.  So  he  must  again  to 
Pestalozzi,  where  he  stays  two  years  the  second 
time.  Much  does  he  learn  about  his  vocation 
and  its  methods  from  Pestalozzi;  but  there  a 
new  ignorance  rises  into  his  mind's  horizon.  His 
knowledge  of  science,  language,  the  arts,  he  finds 
to  be  defective ;  really  he  does  not  know  enough 
to  be  a  teacher.  Hence  he  must  go  to  the  Uni- 
versity again  for  study,  but  always  having  in 
view  the  profession  of  teacher. 

Froebel  is,  therefore,  now  serving  his  appren- 
ticeship to  his  vocation.  Eleven  years  it  lasts, 
from  1805  to  181(5;  he  will  be  thirty -four  years 
old  ere  he  deems  himself  ready  to  start  off  in  the 
world  on  his  own  account.  During  these  eleven 
years  there  will  be  many  changes  of  places  and 
persons  in  his  life's  panorama  —  Germany,  Swit- 
zerland, Gruner,  Von  Holzhausen,  Pestalozzi, 
Gottingen,  Berlin,  War,  then  back  to  Berlin.  A 
varied  shifting  scenery  of  human  experience,  but 
through  it  all  he  remains  faithful  to  the  one 
great  end:  that  of  perfecting  himself  in  his 
vocation. 

But  another  training,  a  deeper  one,  though 
unconscious,  has  begun  at  Frankfort  in  Froebel's 
soul.  Gruner  connects  with  Pestalozzi,  and 
Pestalozzi  is  a  world-historical  character  through 
the  fact  that  he  first  sounded  the  note  of  popular 
education  so  loud  that  all  Europe  listened,  not 


90  THE    LIFE    OF   FROEBEL. 

only  the  pedagogues,  but  the  rulers  —  ministers, 
kings,  emperors.  His  word  of  warning  to  them 
is,  unless  you  educate  the  people,  they  will 
burn  you  up,  as  they  have  done  in  the  French 
Revolution.  Off  there  in  free  Switzerland 
Pestalozzi  heard  the  voice  of  the  Time-Spirit 
proclaiming :  Man  must  now  be  educated  to  free- 
dom, to  an  ordered  freedom,  for  man  uneducated 
but  free  will  destroy  civilization.  Look  at  the 
conflagration  yonder  in  France,  there  they  wor- 
ship the  Goddess  Liberty,  but  the  whole  institu- 
tional world  is  burning.  Man  is  henceforth 
going  to  be  free;  but  which  kind  of  freedom 
will  you  have,  the  educated,  or  the  uneducated? 
So  Pestalozzi,  hearing  the  mighty  call  of  the 
Ages,  set  to  work  at  the  very  bottom,  educating 
the  people  in  the  little  school  of  his  little  town, 
which  small  light-point  soon  became  the  guiding 
star  of  Europe  in  the  stormiest  night  of  three 
centuries. 

Now  we  hold  that  Froebel  heard  this  voice  of 
the  Time-Spirit  when  Gruner  spoke  to  him  « '  Be 
a  teacher,"  and  the  youth  responded,  "  I  shall." 
Following  that  same  voice  he  goes  to  Pestalozzi 
at  Yverdon  and  stays  there  till  he  clarifies  himself 
in  regard  to  his  calling.  And  we  must  not  forget 
that  Froebel  was  nursed  at  Jena  by  this  same 
Time-Spirit,  coming  to  him  there  in  the  form  of 
philosophy  and  romanticism,  and  of  culture 
generally.  But  at  Frankfort  and  still  more  at 


FROEBEL  AS   TEACHES  AND  PUPIL.          91 

Yverdon  he  hears  the  call  to  impart  this  high 
culture  to  the  people,  to  give  it  to  all,  to  make  it 
truly  universal.  Thus  he  will  be  the  educator 
in  the  great  spiritual  movement  with  which  the 
century  opens. 

And  in  this  same  line  of  training  he  is  to  have 
a  still  stronger  experience.  Froebel  is  a  Teuton, 
and  the  Teutonic  folk-spirit  is  roused  from  its  in- 
most depths  to  throw  off  the  foreign  domination 
of  Napoleon,  who  is  the  colossal  birth  of  the 
French  Eevolution.  The  coming  teacher  responds 
to  this  call  of  his  primitive  folk-mother,  and 
marches  forth  to  battle  for  external  freedom  in 
the  War  of  Liberation.  A  great  experience,  truly, 
his  baptism  in  the  spirit  of  his  race  before  he 
tries  to  educate  it  to  inner  freedom ;  he  has  to 
take  this  dip  ere  he  is  fully  equipped  for  his 
task. 

And  we  may  notice  the  gleam  of  a  deep  per- 
sonal faith  dawning  in  the  man :  he  believes  that 
he,  just  he,  is  the  re-incarnation  of  the  teacher, 
he  is  not  to  be  simply  a  teacher  by  trade,  here 
and  now,  for  so  much  bread  and  butter,  but  he 
has  been  a  teacher  from  the  very  beginning  of 
him,  perchance  from  the  beginning  of  the  world. 
An  adamantine  faith  in  himself  and  in  his  call  he 
is  starting  to  manifest,  which  faith  in  himself  will 
have  many  peculiar  developments  in  the  course 
of  this  biography.  Let  it  be  called  his  genius 
which  is  now  getting  aware  of  itself,  and  can 


92  THE    LIFE    OF   FROEBEL. 

ultimately  believe  in  nothing  else  but  itself  and 
its  own  communications,  received  and  given. 

Such  is  a  brief  anticipation  of  the  inner  move- 
ment of  the  present  chapter,  which  is  now  to 
embody  itself  in  the  outer  events  of  this  period. 

I. 

In  Gruner's  School. 

The  very  next  day  after  Gruner's  invitation,  it 
has  been  handed  down  that  Froebel  entered  upon 
his  new  career,  going  into  a  school-room  for  the 
first  time  as  teacher.  Thirty  to  forty  boys  be- 
tween nine  and  eleven  years  old  were  there  before 
him;  how  did  he  feel  at  the  sight?  Somehow 
thus:  now  I  have  found  my  vocation,  now  I 
know  what  I  have  been  striving  for  in  my  dark 
unconscious  struggles  and  fluctuations.  The 
view  of  that  school-room  made  him  feel  at  home ; 
nay,  more,  it  made  him  feel  that  he  had  returned 
home  after  some  long  separation  and  estrange- 
ment. Had  he  ever  been  there  before?  Not  in 
this  conscious  life ;  still  the  whole  scene  seems 
not  new  to  him,  indeed  quite  familiar. 

In  a  letter  written  to  his  brother  at  this  time 
(end  of  August,  1805),  he  unfolds  his  inner  con- 
dition on  starting  his  work :  * '  From  the  first 
hour  my  occupation  did  not  appear  in  the  least 
strange  to  me ;  on  the  contrary ,  I  seemed  to  my- 
self to  have  been  a*  teacher  already  for  a  long 


FEOEBEL  AS   TEACHER  AND  PUPIL.          93 

while,  and  in  fact  to  have  been  born  for  the  busi- 
ness. I  cannot  tell  you  in  words  sufficiently 
striking  how  peculiar  was  this  experience  of 
mine..  It  seemed  to  me  as  if  I  had  never  been 
willing  to  live  in  any  other  condition  but  this,  and 
yet  I  confess  that  not  the  least  idea  of  becoming 
a  teacher  in  a  public  school  had  ever  entered  my 
mind.  I  find  myself,  when  I  am  occupied  with 
instruction,  just  in  my  element.  You  cannot  be- 
lieve how  delightfully  the  hours  glide  away;  I 
love  the  children  from  the  bottom  of  my  heart, 
and  when  I  am  out  of  class  I  long  to  get  back  to 
their  instruction."  (13) 

Such  is  the  outburst  of  joy  and  wonder  with 
which  he  greets  his  new  vocation.  Home  again 
after  much  wandering ;  it  is  not  really  a  begin- 
ning but  a  restoration;  that  longing,  straying 
soul  of  his  has  found  the  seat  of  its  primordial 
activity.  Let  us  note  the  lurking  faith  of  Froe- 
bel  that  the  present  is  for  him  no  new  condition ; 
he  appears  to  say :  I  have  been  here  before,  I 
have  done  this  work  before,  it  was  born  into  me 
•ere  I  was  born.  Like  every  genius  he  has  in  him 
a  strain  of  pre-existence  in  which  he  once 
wrought  and  which  he  has  to  repeat  in  actual  life. 
So  the  school  and  its  task,  the  atmosphere  and 
its  suggestion,  all  seem  familiar  to  him  from  the 
first  moment;  he  is  simply  doing  over  again 
what  he  has  done  before.  Clearly  his  calling  is 
now  to  make  real  that  which  lies  ideally  within 


94  THE    LIFE    OF    FROEBEL. 

him,  and  which  hovers  around  him  with  an  un- 
seen presence  the ,  minute  he  steps  into  that 
school-room  of  Gruner's. 

But  let  these  beliefs,  dreamy  enough,  yet  not 
to  be  left  out  of  any  human  life,  be  here  dropped 
for  a  look  into  more  practical  matters.  The 
truth  is  Froebel  has  had  no  experience ;  he  had 
shifted  around  much  from  one  kind  of  occupa- 
tion to  another,  he  had  tried  his  hand  at  nearly 
everything  except  teaching.  It  takes  him  only 
two  days  to  find  out  that  he  must  learn  before 
he  can  impart.  Already  he  had  heard  a  good 
deal  about  Pestalozzi  from  Gruner  and  others; 
he  remembered  reading  an  account  of  the  Swiss 
schoolmaster  in  some  newspaper  during  his  boy- 
hood, which  account  had  stirred  him  deeply. 
What  is  to  be  done?  Go  to  the  fountain-head 
at  once  and  there  drink  of  the  waters,  off  yonder 
in  free  mountainous  Switzerland. 

Three  days  afterwards  Froebel  was  on  the  road 
to  Yverdon,  where  Pestalozzi  had  recently  estab- 
lished his  school.  The  latter  received  the  visitor 
from  Frankfort  with  great  friendliness,  who  was 
then  left  pretty  much  to  his  own  devices  in  learn- 
ing and  seeing.  He  picked  up  what  he  could,  he 
was  evidently  incapable  of  giving  the  school  a 
searching  investigation.  Still  he  had  his  criti- 
cisms, which  are  set  down  in  his  Autobiography, 
but  which  seem  to  be  rather  an  echo  of  his  later 
opinions.  He  felt,  however,  the  lack  of  unity  in 


FEOEBEL   AS   TEACHER  AND  PUPIL.          95 

the  school,  and  seems  to  have  noticed  germs  of 
future  dissension.  He  observed  that  Pestalozzi 
himself  did  not  seem  to  understand  the  mighty 
' '  spiritual  mechanism  ' '  which  had  been  set  in 
motion  there  in  Yverdon.  The  head  of  the  school 
could  give  no  clear  account  of  its  workings,  but 
would  always  say  to  the  visitor:  "  Go  and  look, 
it  is  going  tremendously,"  giving  to  his  words  a 
naive  touch  of  his  Swiss  accent.  (14) 

Froebel  could  remain  only  a  fortnight  this 
time,  but  when  he  left  he  resolved  to  return  as 
soon  as  possible  and  stay  longer.  So  much, 
then,  he  has  discovered  during  his  brief  visit: 
here  is  the  thing  which  I  must  master,  here  is  the 
man  whom  I  must  take  up  into  myself  ere  I  can 
unfold  into  my  true  inheritance.  More  or  less 
dimly  he  already  feels  that  he  is  to  be  the 
spiritual  successor  of  Pestalozzi.  Such  was 
Froebel' s  first  short  sip  at  the  pedagogical  foun- 
tain-head of  modern  European  education  in  the 
year  1805. 

Returning  to  Frankfort,  he  throws  himself  into 
his  work  with  a  will.  It  seems  that  he  was  re- 
quested to  make  the  programme  of  studies  for 
the  Gruner  school  —  a  strange  matter  when  we 
consider  his  inexperience. 

This  was  apparently  Froebel' s  first  attempt  at 
drawing  up  a  teaching-plan,  upon  which  he 
always  laid  great  stress,  so  great  that  it  became 
a  by -word  afterwards  at  Keilhau.  His  scheme, 


96  THE    LIFE    OF    FROEBEL. 

however,  was  a  complete  success  and  won  decided 
approval. 

The  branches  which  Froebel  taught  in  the 
Gruner  school  were  Arithmetic,  Drawing,  Geog- 
raphy, the  German  language.  He  seems  to  have 
been  most  successful  with  Geography.  He  took 
the  city  of  Frankfort  as  the  center,  from  which 
he  worked  outwards  toward  the  four  quarters  of 
the  Heavens,  including  the  distinctive  local  points 
in  a  map.  The  river  Main  on  which  the  city  lay, 
was  a  line  running  through  this  map,  and  the 
distant  hills  were  given  in  outline.  Thus  each 
pupil  obtained  a  picture  of  the  country  nearest 
home,  a  picture  which  was  most  vivid  in  his  daily 
experience,  and  of  which  he  was  required  to 
make  a  drawing.  This  method  of  teaching 
Geography  is  'sometimes  thought  to  be  very 
modern,  but  it  reaches  back  further  than  Froe- 
bel, to  whom  it  came  from  Pestalozzi  either 
directly  or  through  Gruner. 

The  Gruner  school  produced  a  deep  influence 
upon  Froebel,  and  evidently  furnished  a  number 
of  suggestions  for  his  own  later  school  at  Keil- 
hau.  There  was  a  large  inside  yard  which  was 
used  for  play,  to  which  much  attention  seems  to 
have  been  given ;  once  a  week  every  teacher  took 
a  walk  with  his  boys,  in  city  and  country,  mak- 
ing the  same  a  means  for  instruction.  The 
teachers  played  with  the  boys  in  the  large  yard, 
and  thereby  obtained  insight  into  traits  of  char- 


FRO E BEL   AS    TEACHEE  AND  PUPIL.          97 

acter  which  come  out  only  in  play.  Also  there 
was  a  garden  connected  with  the  yard.  Both 
the  principal,  Gruner,  and  the  assistant  princi- 
pal, Nanni,  had  been  pupils  of  Pestalozzi,  and 
were  full  of  the  ideas  of  the  Swiss  educator. 
Froebel  saw  these  in  full  operation,  to  be  sure  at 
second  hand ;  still  he  obtained  the  drift  of  the 
New  Education. 

And  yet  Froebel  began  to  feel  discontent ;  he 
could  not  stick  to  anything  longer  than  a  year. 
A  large  school  requires  fixed  forms,  it  must  have 
plan,  order,  organization.  Under  these  forms 
Froebel  chafed,  he  felt  no  longer  at  home,  he  de- 
manded freedom.  He  had  been  very  successful, 
especially  with  his  Geography ;  at  a  public  ex- 
amination both  parents  and  teachers  said :  « '  This 
is  the  right  way  of  teaching  Geography."  But 
the  set  form  of  even  the  Gruner  school  had  be- 
come unendurable,  he  must  get  free  once  more. 
Still  he  never  thought  of  relinquishing  his  present 
vocation.  In  these  days  he  utters  his  aspiration 
as  follows:  "  I  wish  to  educate  men  whose  feet 
shall  stand  011  God's  earth  planted  in  nature,  but 
whose  heads  shall  rise  up  to  Heaven." 

Gruner  saw  that  there  was  no  use  in  trying  to 
keep  such  an  "  excitable  man,"  who  had  begun 
to  kick  everywhere  in  the  traces.  Froebel  had 
made  a  contract  to  stay  three  years  ;  Gruner  re- 
leased him  willingly  yet  in  a  friendly  manner. 

So  Froebel  goes  forth  again  into  the  world  a 
7 


98  THE    LIFE    OF    FROEBEL. 

free  man,  yet  with  the  firm  consciousness  of  a 
vocation. 

It  is  interesting  to  note  Froebel's  wrestle  with 
grammar  at  this  time.  He  resolved  to  perfect 
himself  in  French  under  a  good  teacher.  He 
studied  hard,  the  language  was  important,  it  was 
the  time  of  the  French  domination.  But  he  con- 
fesses that  he  made  a  failure,  and  this  failure 
lay  deep  in  his  nature.  He  was  in  revolt  against 
all  forms;  how  could  he  take  to  linguistic  forms, 
words,  phrases,  parts  of  speech?  Grammar  is 
ordered  language ;  but  Froebel  was  at  this  time 
averse  to  all  order,  except  what  he  made  on  the 
spot. 

In  fact,  Froebel  was  incapable  of  learning 
grammar,  and  remained  so  to  the  last.  He  de- 
clares that  this  study  of  French  had  one  good 
effect :  it  made  him  aware  of  his  deficiency  in 
German  grammar.  Nor  could  he  spell  correctly ; 
he  misspells  the  word  Ziel  (Zihl)  in  the  verse 
he  writes  in  Pestalozzi's  album.  So  in  his  re- 
volt against  form,  he  turns  down  the  forms  of 
grammar  and  spelling  and  asserts  his  linguistic 
freedom.  (15) 

II. 

Tutoring. 

Another  strand  had  been  already  weaving 
itself  into  the  teacher's  life.  While  at  the 
Gruner  school  he  had  been  giving  private  lessons 


FEOEBEL  AS   TEACHER  AND  PUPIL.    .       99 

to  three  boys  outside  of  his  ordinary  work.  It 
so  happened  that  their  regular  tutor  was  about 
to  leave  them,  so  that  they  needed  another. 
After  considerable  hesitation,  Froebel  himself 
resolved  to  take  the  position.  He  did  not  like 
to  give  up  his  freedom  again,  but  having  had 
several  months'  enjoyment  of  it,  he  came  to  the 
-conclusion  that  he  must  fit  in  somewhere,  and 
yielded  after  a  strong  inner  conflict. 

Thus  Froebel  takes  the  post  of  domestic  tutor 
to  the  three  sons  of  Herr  Von  Holzhausen.  He 
insists  upon  two  conditions,  from  which  he  can- 
not be  shaken:  first,  that  he  should  never  be 
obliged  to  dwell  in  the  city  with  his  pupils ;  sec- 
ondly, that  they  should  be  wholly  handed  over 
to  his  control.  In  the  country  they  were  to  live 
with  him,  forming  an  isolated  group  by  them- 
selves. Thus  he  is  parent  as  well  as  tutor ;  his 
object  seems  to  have  been*to  change  the  environ- 
ment of  the  youths,  one  of  whom  he  reports  in 
good  condition,  one  in  a  moderately  bad,  and 
one  in  a  very  bad  condition. 

Froebel  is  now  free  of  the  forms  of  the  regu- 
lar school,  and  of  the  family  and  of  social  life. 
He  is  autocratic  educator,  yet  with  a  deep  sen.se 
of  his  mission.  Very  unbending  he  is :  the  coun- 
try house  was  not  quite  ready,  he  was  asked  to 
take  up  his  abode  for  a  few  days  with  the  boys  in 
their  town  home.  Not  a  bit  of  it;  he  resisted 
the  proposition  and  gained  his  point.  So  he  be- 


100    t  THE    LIFE    OF   FEOEBEL. 

gins  this  new  phase  of  his    educational  career, 
that  of  domestic  tutor,  in  July,  1807. 

He  was  twenty-five  years  old,  as  far  as  age 
went,  but  was  younger  by  several  years  in  devel- 
opment. Full  of  aspiration,  restless,  writhing, 
helpless ;  he  describes  .his  internal  condition  at 
this  time  as  "  a  perpetual  conflict  with  the  estab- 
lished." Totally  dissatisfied  with  the  existing 
order  of  things,  in  fact  with  all  order;  then  fol- 
lowed the  deeper  dissatisfaction,  namely,  with 
himself.  He  began  to  long  for  more  adequate 
knowledge,  and  with  it  came  a  desire  to  return  to 
the  University  —  a  reminiscence  of  Jena  in  spite 
of  Jena. 

What  is  it  that  is  tearing  him  asunder?  Just 
the  desire  for  unity.  He  sees  everything  in  a 
state  of  separation  and  division,  so  he  revolts 
and  falls  into  the  same  state.  He  declares  that 
the  loftiest  thought  wiiich  dawned  upon  him  at 
this  time  was  the  following:  "  All  is  unity,  all 
rests  in  unity,  proceeds  from  unity,  leads  to 
unity  and  returns  to  unity."  This  sounds  like 
some  passages  in  the  Education  of  Man.  So 
Froebel  in  his  search  for  unity  becomes  abso- 
lutely disunited  within  himself.  That  which  he 
saw  internally  and  that  which  he  realized  exter- 
nally were  separated  by  a  chasm  which  he  could 
not  pass. 

Particularly  was  he  troubled  with  the  want  of 
all  organic  connection  in  the  branches  of  instruc- 


FROEBEL  AS   TEACHER  AND  PUPIL.        101 

tion.  Still  he  performed  his  task  as  well  as  he 
could,  living  alone  with  the  youths  in  the  coun- 
try. It  was  indeed  a  getting  back  to  nature ;  no 
family,  no  society,  no  institutional'lif  e  —  a  little 
world  ruled  absolutely  by  an  autocratic  peda- 
gogue. The  boys  cultivated  the  fruits  of  the  field 
and  gave  them  with  delight  to  their  parents.  A 
sylvan  idyllic  existence,  probable  best  for  those 
spoiled  city-boys,  but  otherwise  hardly  an  ex- 
ample. 

Froebel  had  the  tendency  to  turn  back  and  to 
reflect  upon  his  past  life.  He  now  subjected  his 
former  stages  of  development  to  a  strict  exami- 
nation. In  these  boys  he  lived  over  again  his 
own  youthful  days.  Already  he  had  seen  into 
their  condition  by  the  light  of  his  own  experience 
in  childhood. 

This  isolated  school-life  with  a  few  boys  has 
also  a  foreshadowing  of  Keilhau.  He  gives 
them  games  and  occupations  of  various  kinds. 
There  is  the  same  freedom  of  the  boys  011  the 
one  side,  and  the  same  absolutism  of  Froebel 
the  teacher  on  the  other.  All  is  chaotic  yet 
germinal;  here  we  find  play,  occupations,  the 
garden,  nature,  long  walks  —  a  kind  of  un- 
organized Keilhau. 

Froebel  himself  felt  the  defect  deeply:  no 
connection,  no  unity,  complete  isolation.  In 
about  one  year  he  had  enough  of  this  freedom, 
of  this  return  to  nature.  He  must  somehow 


102  THE    LIFE    OF    FROEBE-L. 

get  an  organizing  principle  —  where?  Again  he 
thinks  of  Yverdon  and  Pestalozzi.  He  insists 
upon  it  with  the  parents,  so  he  with  the  three 
boys  are  off  for  Switzerland  in  1808. 

Thus  ends  the  lounging,  tutorial,  masculine  life 
in  the  country  —  Froebel's  first  attempt  to  em- 
body Rousseau.  The  mother  of  the  boys,  Frau 
Von  Holzhausen,  a  superior  woman,  was  evidently 
tinged  with  the  same  doctrine,  which  lay  deeply 
in  the  time,  and  influenced  many  cultivated  people 
throughout  Europe.  She  had  high  appreciation 
of  Froebel,  indeed  a  kind  of  divination  of  his 
genius;  she  will  remain  his  life-long  friend,  and 
keep  up  a  correspondence  with  him  many  years 
after  his  personal  relation  to  her  children  has 
ceased. 

A  special  gift  of  Froebel  seems  to  have  been  first 
called  into  exercise  during  this  stay  in  the  coun- 
try :  that  of  inventing  means  for  occupying  chil- 
dren to  advantage.  Forms  in  paper,  pricking, 
cutting,  folding,  at  first ;  then  he  passed  to  work 
in  cardboard  and  in  wood ;  truly  a  prophecy  of 
the  kindergarden  occupations.  The  garden  was 
also  there  and  cultivated  as  a  part  of  the  educa- 
tion of  the  boys ;  they  were  likewise  practiced  a 
good  deal  in  building.  So  out  of  that  country- 
house  near  Frankfort  there  seems  to  flash  a  search- 
light through  thirty  years  of  Froebel's  future  to 
the  little  town  of  Blankenburg  in  1837. 

But  enough!      On  a  summer's  day  in  1808  the 


FEOEBEL  AS   TEACHER  AND  PUPIL.        103 

country-house  with  its  garden  is  deserted  by  its 
four  occupants,  who  turn  their  steps  toward 
Yverdon,  Switzerland,  where  is  the  school  of 
Heinrich  Pestalozzi.  There  Froebel  is  both 
pupil  and  teacher  undisguisedly,  both  receiving 
and  giving  instruction.  Note  that  hereafter  he 
will  be  a  strong  advocate  of  the  pupil-teacher 
and  will  introduce  him  at  Keilhau,  therein  re- 
enacting  his  own  experience.  Nay,  in  Froebel' s 
greatest  book,  "The  Mother  Play-songs,"  the 
mother  is  both  pupil  and  teacher.  But  we  have 
arrived  at  Yverdon,  let  us  take  a  glimpse  of  the 
scene. 

III. 

Castle  Yverdon 

Yverdon  lies  on  the  south  side  of  Lake  Neuf- 
chatel,  oiie  of  the  small  Swiss  lakes,  amid  moun- 
tain scenery  with  all  its  variety  of  height,  slope, 
valley,  stream,  sheet  of  water.  It  is  an  old  Bur- 
gundian  castle,  connected  with  the  name  of 
Charles  the  Bold.  Four  massive  towers  rise  in 
a  kind  of  competition  with  the  surrounding 
mountain  peaks.  It  had  already  fallen  to  ruin 
when  assigned  to  Pestalozzi  for  his  school,  the 
raven  and  the  rook  nestled  in  its  walls. 

But  now  two  hundred  boys  and  sometimes 
more,  with  teachers,  visitors,  distinguished  guests 
gave  to  the  decaying  medieval  edifice  a  more 
bustling  life  than  it  had  ever  known  in  its  palm- 


104  THE    LIFE    OF   FEOEBEL. 

iest  days.  It  seemed  to  rise  out  of  its  medieval 
sleep  of  death  into  the  modern  world,  indeed  into 
the  most  modern  part  of  the  modern  world,  for 
it  had  become  suddenly  the  home  of  the  New 
Education.  Truly  a  wonderful  resurrection  for 
those  cracked,  tumbling,  moss-grown  towers; 
vivified  by  an  Idea,  it  sprang  up  almost  in  a 
night  like  the  castle  of  a  fairy  tale. 

Inside  the  edifice  little  comfort  and  no  luxury 
could  be  seen.  Only  the  most  indispensable 
articles  of  furniture  were  there,  and  they  of  the 
rudest  make.  In  the  midst  of  the  tumult  of  an 
assembling  class  the  teacher  would  put  up  his 
desk  and  begin.  Rooms  were  not  attractive 
though  spacious ;  everything  seemed  in  a  sort  of 
pell-mell.  But  the  spirit  was  there,  Heinrich 
Pestalozzi,  and  beside  him  stood  his  wife. 

The  boys,  however,  were  having  a  good  time. 
They  could  sport  on  the  grass  of  the  meadow,  or 
bathe  in  the  waters  of  the  lake.  In  longer  walks 
they  could  ascend  the  Alps,  behold  the  mighty 
chain  of  peaks  from  Mount  Blanc  to  Pilatus, 
look  down  from  the  heights  into  many  lakes, 
towns,  valleys.  No  student,  and  seldom  a 
teacher,  wore  a  necktie  or  a  hat.  The  boys  would 
wash  during  the  coldest  days  of  winter  in  a 
trough  of  half -frozen  water.  The  food  was  of 
the  simplest  sort.  At  five  o'clock  in  the  morn- 
ing they  had  to  rise  from  their  beds  and  begin 
the  tasks  of  the  day.  The  teachers  rose  at  four 


FEOEBEL  AS   TEACHER  AND  PUPIL.        105 

and  even  earlier ;  no  drones  could  stay  long  in 
that  hive. 

Marvelous  was  the  native  strength  here  mani- 
fested. An  energy  went  forth  like  that  of 
Nature  herself,  as  she  showed  her  might  in  the 
surrounding  Swiss  mountains.  Very  plainly  it 
was  a  return  to  Nature,  to  that  colossal  power 
which  they  drank  in  from  the  landscape.  This 
elemental  energy  was  in  the  soul  of  Pestalozzi, 
though  it  was  directed  not  now  to  the  upheaval 
of  masses  of  mountainous  earth,  but  to  the  ele- 
vation of  masses  of  mankind  through  education. 

Pestalozzi's  school  was  an  image  of  Switzer- 
land. It  was  a  collection  of  strong,  independent 
teachers,  it  was  cantonal,  not  central;  a  land 
made  up  of  separate  mountains  and  little  states, 
a  sonderbund  always  ready  to  fly  asunder.  Not 
long  before  this  time  the  Helvetic  Republic  had 
gone  to  pieces,  and  the  cantonal  government 
resumed  its  sway  at  Bern,  through  which  Pesta-. 
lozzi  had  been  compelled  to  give  up  his  school  at 
Burgdorf  and  to  remove  to  Yverdon.  This  was 
in  the  year  1803,  the  time  of  the  so-called  Act  of 
Mediation. 

So  the  school  reflects  the  Swiss  government, 
the  Swiss  character,  yea,  the  Swiss  scenery  with 
its  mountain  peaks  piercing  Heaven  in  solitary 
sublimity.  All  is  individualized,  unity  is  not  the 
virtue  here.  Still  in  such  a  cradle  the  New  Idea 
with  its  strong  stress  upon  the  individual  and  his 


106  THE    LIFE    OF    FEOEBEL. 

right  had  to  be  born  and  then  imparted  to  the 
people  of  all  nations.  In  a  similar  -manner 
ancient  Greece  with  its  separating  mountains  and 
valleys  reared  the  independent  city  and  the  inde- 
pendent citizen,  and  first  vindicated  freedom  for 
Europe  against  the  absolutism  of  the  Orient. 

Mighty  is  such  a  spirit,  calling  forth  the  strong- 
est and  intensest  powers  of  the  individual,  but  it 
has  the  germ  of  dissension  and  dissolution  from 
the  start.  The  prodigious  fullness  and  energy 
of  the  life  at  Yverdon  was  the  chief  attraction, 
and  overwhelmed  the  visitors  who  flocked  thither 
from  the  remotest  parts  of  Europe  and  even  from 
America.  And  that  was  one  of  the  troubles. 
The  school  began  to  degenerate  into  a  show, 
the  exercises  began  to  be  spectacular,  and  to 
manifest  a  strain  of  untruth,  of  unreality. 

Plague  take  the  visitor  anyhow !  the  earnest 
teacher  often  exclaims  inwardly.  When  a  school 
begins  to  attract  a  stream  of  spectators  pouring 
in  daily  and  even  hourly,  it  is  lost.  They  will 
corrupt  the  best  training  in  existence.  The 
teacher  and  pupil  are  diverted  and  perverted 
from  their  real  object ;  they  are  for  the  visitor 
to  whom  they  must  display.  Pestalozzi  himself 
noted  the  hollowness  and  growing  falsity  of  his 
school  at  this  time,  and  also  marks  the  show- 
spirit  as  the  bane  of  his  enterprise. 

And  now  we  must  touch  upon  that  personality 
who  centered  all  these  disrupting  influences  in 


FEOEBEL  AS   TEACHER  AND  PUPIL.        107 

himself.  Pestalozzi  describes  his  advent  into 
the  school :  '  <  Down  from  the  mountains  of 
Tyrol  came  into  our  midst  a  youth  who  had  not 
a  trace  of  the  artificial  culture  of  the  time,  but 
who  was  gifted  with  a  hidden  native  force  which 
none  of  us,  least  of  all  myself,  suspected.  In 
the  highest  degree  religious  after  the  Catholic 
way,  with  Ave  Maria  on  his  tongue  and  rosary 
in  hand  he  descended  upon  us,  and  in  the  might 
of  his  spirit  he  quickly  outstripped  all  the  pupils 
of  his  class,  and  then  all  his  teachers  and  soon 
became  himself  the  teacher  of  those  who  a  short 
time  before  had  taught  him,  and  who  had  re- 
garded him  as  the  most  uncivilized  being  that 
had  ever  stepped  inside  the  institution."  (16) 

Such  was  the  advent  of  the  Tyroler  boy 
Joseph  (or  Josias)  Schniid,  an  earth-born  son  of 
the  Alps,  possessing  the  elemental  energy  of  his 
own  mountains.  Pestalozzi  confesses  that  he 
was  drawn  by  the  strongest  secret  bond  of  sym- 
pathy toward  the  unpolished  youth ;  indeed  they 
had  something  in  common  lying  far  down  in  the 
hidden  springs  of  nature. 

Now  began  the  rupture.  Schmid,  though  the 
most  capable  of  all  the  teachers,  roused  bitter- 
ness, jealousy,  hostility  on  every  side.  He  is 
portrayed  as  the  very  devil  of  Yverdon,  and  the 
evil  spirit  under  whose  influence  Pestalozzi  fell  in 
his  weakness  and  old  age.  The  uproar  became 
so  great  that  Schmid  had  to  quit  the  school  in 


108  THE   LIFE    OF   FEOEBEL. 

1810.  His  chief  opponent  was  a  clergyman  by 
the  name  of  Niederer,  who  sought  to  unify  the 
distracted  work  of  Pestalozzi  by  giving  to  it  a 
theoretical  basis  in  philosophy.  But  the  school, 
the  whole  movement,  Switzerland  itself  with  its 
mountains,  was  hostile  to  any  such  unity. 
Schmid  was  hostile  to  it,  born  of  the  moun- 
tains, and  Pestalozzi  could  not  understand  it. 
The  teachers  all  demanded  a  government  examina- 
tion, in  order  to  vindicate  the  school,  all  except 
Schmid.  The  examination,  however,  turned  out 
unfavorable  for  all  except  Schmid,  whose  work 
was  highly  commended  by  the  commission.  Such 
was  the  boomerang  which  they  hurled  against  the 
Tyroler  boy. 

After  Schmid's  departure  the  school  goes  from 
worse  to  still  worse,  until  finally  Niederer  his 
great  enemy  begs  him  to  return  and  restore  mat- 
ters. Eeturn  he  does,  and  again  the  old  feud 
springs  up  with  tenfold  bitterness ;  but  this  time 
Schmid  is  not  driven  out,  on  the  contrary  he 
ousts  the  whole  set  of  teachers,  who  have  to  take 
their  departure  from  the  school,  leaving  him  in 
possession  of  the  castle  and  of  Pestalozzi,  and 
calling  him  with  great  unanimity  the  devil  of 
Yverdon. 

But  it  belongs  not  to  our  theme  to  give  the 
history  of  Yverdon,  only  in  so  far  as  it  inter- 
weaves into  the  life  of  Froebel  who  was  present 
during  the  period  of  strife,  who  saw  and  talked 


FEOEBEL   AS   TEACHER  AND  PUPIL.        109 

with  the  demonic  Schmid  and  praised   his  work 
specially. 

And  the  interesting  fact  is  to  be  noted  that  the 
same  sort  of  a  demonic  spirit  will  enter  his  own 
school  at  Keilhau,  will  rend  it  with  dissension, 
and  finally  bring  it  to  the  verge  of  ruin.  As 
Yverdon  had  its  Schmid,  so  Keilhau  will  have  its 
Herzog,  and  both  of  them  from  the  Alps.  Thus 
Froebel  had  a  forecast  of  his  own  fate  in  the 
break-up  at  Yverdon,  though  he  was  so  different 
in  character  from  Pestalozzi. 


IV. 

Froebel  and   Pestalozzi. 

Accordingly  in  the  summer  of  1808  Froebel 
with  his  three  boys  makes  the  journey  to  Switz- 
erland and  arrives  indue  season  at  Yverdon. 
They  were  not  able  to  get  lodging  at  the  castle, 
but  found  rooms  in  its  neighborhood,  so  that 
they  took  most  of  their  meals  there  and  shared 
fully  in  the  life  of  the  school.  This  life  Froebel 
describes  as  mighty;  he  was  seized  by  it  and 
borne  forward  resistless; ly.  He  attributes  it  to 
Pestalozzi  whose  word  had  something  in  it  which 
roused  and  elevated  the  soul  in  the  most  powerful 
manner,  yet  it  was  an  indefinite,  intangible 
something.  Such  was  Froebel' s  first  response  to 
that  Titanic  upheaving  spirit  which  had  somehow 


110  THE    LIFE    OF   FEOEBEL. 

broken  loose  from  the  mountains  of  Switzerland, 
and  taken  lodgment  in  a  school. 

He  became  a  pupil  again,  he  went  to  all  the 
classes,  he  was  one  of  the  boys  with  the  boys, 
joining  in  their  games,  excursions  and  bathings,  as 
well  as  in  their  studies.  Something  of  the  kind 
he  had  done  already  on  a  small  scale  at  Frank- 
fort; teacher  still,  he  is  chiefly  pupil  now. 

There  were  many  other  teachers  who  had 
turned  pupils  in  that  school,  some  having  come 
of  their  own  accord,  others  having  been  sent  by 
their  governments  to  study  the  method  of  Pes- 
talozzi.  These  mature  minds  commingled  in 
daily  intercourse,  exchanging  ideas,  discussing 
principles.  Very  fruitful  was  such  conversation 
to  the  somewhat  isolated  Froebel,  who  discovered 
many  of  his  own  deficiencies  of  training  and  cul- 
ture by  comparing  himself  with  these  men.  Here 
was  indeed  the  new  University,  the  creative 
center  of  Europe's  educational  thought,  the  fresh 
starting-point  for  all  education.  In  striking  con- 
trast it  stood  to  that  other  sort  of  University, 
state-fostered  and  palace-housed,  with  its  rows 
of  sleek,  well-combed  professors,  rehearsing 
what  they  had  learned  to  their  students  and 
regularly  drawing  their  salary.  Not  only  an  ele- 
mentary, but  an  elemental  University,  springing 
with  the  might  of  nature  out  of  the  Alps. 

So  we  can  see  Froebel  flinging  himself  into 
this  roaring  whirlpool  of  life,  absorbing  all  that 


FROEBEL  AS    TEACHEE  AND  PUPIL.        Ill 

he  can  hold,  which  is  much,  and  which  will  here- 
after connect  him  by  direct  spiritual  descent  with 
Pestalozzi. 

Of  Froebel's  stay  at  Yverdon  we  have  two 
accounts,  somewhat  full,  both  by  his  hand.  The 
first  is  a  report  addressed  to  the  Princess  Regent 
of  Schwarzburg  Rudolstadt.  It  is  dated  Yver- 
don April  1-27,  1809  (printed  by  Lange  I,  124 
et  seq.).  It  was,  therefore,  written  less  than  a 
year  after  his  arrival.  Here  we  see  him  as  the 
zealous  follower  of  Pestalozzi,  whom  he  com- 
mends throughout.  The  second  account  is  con- 
tained in  his  Autobiography  (Letter  to  the  Duke 
of  Meiningen)  whose  date  is  commonly  stated  to 
be  1827,  and  shows  Froebel  looking  back  at  his 
Yverdon  experiences  through  a  vista  of  nearly 
twenty  years.  This  account  is  of  quite  a  differ- 
ent character ;  it  has  more  criticism  than  com- 
mendation. Of  both  these  accounts  we  shall  take 
a  brief  note. 

Thefirst,  addressed  to  the  Princess  Regent, gives 
a  pretty  complete  survey  of  Pestalozzi' s  method 
in  all  the  elementary  branches.  Moreover,  the 
infant  is  not  neglected  in  this  scheme,  but  has 
particular  attention.  Its  teacher  is  the  mother, 
who  is  to  have  her  special  instruction,  which  is 
laid  down  in  Pestalozzi' s  Mothers'  Book  which 
Froebel  often  cites  in  this  report,  and  defends 
warmly  against  certain  attacks. 

The  reason  for  his  addressing  this  report  to 


112  THE    LIFE    OF   FBOEBEL. 

the  Princess  Regent  does  appear.  I  cannot  find 
anywhere  that  she  requested  it  from  Froebel.  It 
seems  to  have  been  his  zeal  for  the  new  educa- 
tion, and  he  expresses  his  hope  that  Pestalozzi's 
method  will  be  introduced  into  the  public  schools 
of  his  native  country.  Did  he  expect  to  be  the 
appointed  means  for  such  an  introduction?  If 
so,  he  missed  his  purpose. 

The  second  account  above  alluded  to  (m  his 
Autobiography)  is  written  in  a  different  mood. 
He  now  brings  out  strongly  Pestalozzi's  defects, 
mingling  his  criticism  with  some  praise.  He 
complains  that  he  did  not  find  either  unity  or 
completeness  in  the  course  of  study.  He  again 
overhauls  the  programme  and  finds  a  good  deal 
of  fault  with  most  branches,  even  with  Pes- 
talozzi's religious  instruction  though  he  praises 
some  things,  such  as  music. 

On  the  whole  Froebel  has  begun  to  see  the 
limits  of  the  Pestalozzian  method,  namely  its  ob- 
ject lesson  (Anschauiingsunterricht) .  It  is  a  one- 
sided cultivation  of,  or  rather  devotion  to,  the 
senses ;  it  turns  all  effort  toward  getting  posses- 
sion of  the  external  world  of  nature.  It  whirls 
the  student  outward  and  generates  a  tremendous 
force,  but  ends  in  multiplicity,  separation,  dis- 
union.. 

Here  lies  the  central  source  of  the  disorganiz- 
ing energy  which  was  ever  present  in  the  school 
at  Yverdon,  and  which  could  not  be  banished. 


FEOEBEL  AS   TEACHER  AND  PUPIL.        113 

The  supposed  offenders  would  leave,  still  the 
trouble  remained,  and  would  break  out  afresh. 
The  demon  really  lay  couched  in  the  principle 
itself,  and  only  had  its  strongest  utterance  in 
Schmid.  On  the  other  side,  Niederer  sought  to 
unify  the  school  in  a  philosophy  of  his  own,  and 
for  awhile  dominated  Pestalozzi,  who  understood 
nothing  abstract,  and  who  once  plaintively  said 
to  an  inquiring  visitor  :  "  I  no  longer  understand 
myself  ;  if  you  wish  to  know  what  I  think  and 
will,  you  must  ask  Herr  Niederer." 

Before  Froebel  leaves  Yverdon  he  has  become 
conscious  that  he  can  transcend  Pestalozzi,  by 
unifying  his  instruction,  while  keeping  its  main 
features.  Froebel  is  more  a  man  of  inner  intui- 
tion, that  of  spirit,  while  Pestalozzi  is  more  a 
man  of  external  intuition,  that  of  the  senses. 
Such  is  the  contrast,  though  each  to  a  degree 
partakes  of  the  other's  qualities. 

In  the  report  to  the  Princess  Regent  we  see 
that  Froebel  has  already  turned  his  attention  to- 
ward children  not  yet  of  school  age,  and  is  look- 
ing  into  their  possibilities  of  education.  Also  he 
has  been  thinking  of  the  mother  as  the  first 
teacher  of  her  child,  and  cites  the  enthusiastic 
expression  of  a  certain  mother  :  '  «  From  Pesta- 
lozzi I  learned  to  be  a  mother."  Still  further, 
we  see  that  Froebel  has  deeply  studied  and 
assimilated  Pestalozzi'  sMothertt9  Boole  (Buck  der 
Mutter),  out  of  which  he  will  evolve  in  the  full- 

8 


UNIVERSITY 


114  THE   LIFE    OF   FRO E BEL. 

ness  of  time  his  own  greatest  book,  the  Mother 
Play-songs  (Mutter  und  Kose-Lieder}.  Thus  we 
find  in  Froebel  already  at  Yverdon  echoes  of  the 
kindergarden,  faint  and  far-off,  yet  distinctly 
audible. 

But  Froebel' s  immediate  problem  was  the  edu- 
cation of  boys,  and  the  school  at  Yverdon  was 
essentially  a  boys'  school,  which  Froebel  will 
repeat  at  Keilhau,  and  transcend  before  he  creates 
the  kindergarden.  In  regard  to  the  instruction 
and  treatment  of  boys  he  is  getting  precious  in- 
formation which  he  will  not  be  slow  to  utilize 
and  to  improve  upon  when  the  time  comes. 

More  and  more  hd  begins  to  feel  the  inner 
scission  which  was  rending  Yverdon,  and  he  is 
also  aware  of  his  growing  separation  from  the 
school.  Very  different  we  must  conceive  his 
feeling  to  have  been  at  the  end  of  his  second 
year  from  what  it  was  at  the  end  of  his  first.  He 
has  nothing  to  do  but  to  go  home,  and  off  he 
starts  for  Frankfort  with  his  three  boys  in  the 
autumn  of  1810. 

He  remains  till  1811  in  the  family  Von  Holz- 
hausen  teaching  the  boys,  but  as  soon  as  he  is 
free  he  starts  for  the  University.  It  will  not  be 
Jena  again,  of  which  he  has  unpleasant  memo- 
ries, but  he  concludes  to  go  to  Gottingen  which 
had  a  great  name  at  that  time,  and  was  one  of 
the  most  progressive  Universities  of  Germany. 

He  has  now  been  a  teacher  for  six  years,  or 


FROEBEL  AS   TEACHEfi  AND  PUPIL.        115 

rather  teacher  and  pupil.  Much  has  he  learned 
in  that  time ;  he  has  made  his  connection  with 
Pestalozzi  and  the  New  Education  and  he  sees 
the  point  where  he  can  transcend  the  great  Swiss 
schoolmaster  in  the  matter  of  unity.  This  has 
now  become  his  conscious  pursuit. 

But  he  has  also  been  made  aware  that  he  does 
not  know  enough.  The  intercourse  with  the 
teachers  who  had  been  sent  to  Pestalozzi  in  order 
to  learn,  had  convinced  him  of  his  ignorance. 

If  he  is  going  to  unify  the  course  of  study,  he 
must  know  its  contents .  He  had  seen  that  one 
of  the  troubles  of  Pestalozzi  came  from  the 
latter 's  ignorance  of  the  things  which  were 
taught  in  the  school  at  Yverdon.  The  result 
was  each  teacher  took  his  own  way,  and  there 
was  no  strong  guiding  hand,  really  no  central 
principle. 

So  Froebel  has  come  back  with  the  idea  of  uni- 
fication more  deeply  planted  in  him  than  ever. 
But  he  must  first  know  what  he  is  going  to 
unify.  At  this  point  we  may  note  that  the  first 
half  of  the  present  chapter,  showing  Froebel  as 
teacher  and  pupil  till  he  finds  the  limit  of  Pes- 
talozzi as  well  as  his  own  limit,  is  now  concluded. 
Next  he  will  proceed  to  remove  this  limit  of  his, 
which  is  ignorance,  by  going  to  the  University, 
the  great  store-house  of  knowledge.  Thus  he 
seeks  still  further  to  complete  his  apprenticeship. 

One   resolution   he   has   brought   away   from 


116  THE    LIFE    OF   FROEBEL. 

Yverdon :  when  he  starts  his  school,  he  will  be 
master.  And  he  will  have  unity  in  the  branches 
taught;  he  will  have  a  plan  definite,  fixed,  stable 
as  the  Law,  so  that  he  will  be  called  tyrannical 
and  pedantic.  In  this  respect  Keilhau  will  be  the 
opposite  of  Yverdon,  showing  the  German  abso- 
lutism or  militarism  versus  the  Swiss  freedom  or 
individualism. 

Pestalozzi  and  Froebel  had  much  in  common, 
but  we  must  see  the  pivotal  point  of  their  differ- 
ence. Pestalozzi  in  his  object-lesson  has  his  eye 
upon  the  acquisition  of  knowledge  through  the 
senses  primarily ;  hence  he  can  reform  methods 
of  instruction.  Still  such  a  view  regards  the 
child  as  a  receptive  being  chiefly ;  Froebel  passes 
beyond  this  limit  and  regards  the  child  as  a  pro- 
ductive being  also.  Hence  his  stress  upon  games 
and  occupations  by  means  of  which  the  child  is 
to  learn  through  activity.  The  one  develops 
more  the  acquisitive  principle  of  the  Ego,  the 
other  the  creative.  Hence  Pestalozzi  is  domi- 
nantly  the  educator  of  the  Intellect,  Froebel  is 
dominantly  the  educator  of  the  Will. 

V. 

Gottingen  and  Berlin. 

Froebel  now  passes  from  being  teacher  and 
pupil  together,  which  was  his  situation  at  Yver- 
don, to  being  the  pupil  alone,  or  the  student,  yet 


FEOEBEL  AS   TEACHER  AND  PUPIL.        117 

always  with  the  outlook  upon  his  vocation.  The 
practice  of  teaching  he  must  give  up  for  a  time 
in  order  to  acquire  more  knowledge,  for  which 
his  thirst  is  very  great,  too  great  in  fact,  since 
he  tries  to  take  too  big  a  draught  at  once  and 
gets  a  surfeit.  Just  like  the  eager  student;  we 
have  all  probably  done  the  same.  So  he  quits 
his  tutorship  at  Frankfort  and  is  off,  entering 
upon  a  new  stage  of  his  career. 

In  the  beginning  of  July,  1811,  Froebel  went 
to  Gottingen.  He  does  not  tell  the  special  attrac- 
tion drawing  him  to  this  University,  which  had 
its  literary  distinction  and  its  set  of  poets,  though 
far  inferior  to  those  of  Jena  and  Weimar.  Its 
greatest  name  at  this  time  seems  to  have  been 
the  naturalist  Blumenbach  whose  reputation  was 
world-wide,  and  who  had  a  greater  number  of 
listeners  in  his  courses  than  any  other  professor 
in  Europe.  A  letter  from  America  was  addressed 
to  "  Blumenbach  in  Europe,"  and  it  reached 
him. 

At  the  beginning  of  his  studies  in  Gottingen 
Froebel  threw  himself  upon  the  languages.  The 
teaching  of  these  had  evidently  been  the  most 
unsatisfactory  part  of  his  work  hitherto.  The 
truth  is  Froebel  had  by  nature  a  small  gift  for 
speech ;  he  was  perpetually  running  his  head 
against  this  difficulty.  He  was  manifestly  dissat- 
isfied with  the  language  work  at  the  Gruner 
School.  And  at  Yverdon  he  took  lessons  in 


118  THE    LIFE    OF   FROEBEL. 

Latin  and  Greek  from  a  young  man,  but  evidently 
with  little  progress. 

What  was  the  trouble?  Froebel  had  an  in- 
stinctive horror  of  grammar,  which  organizes 
human  speech.  Herein  he  was  like  Rousseau 
and  the  Rousseauists  down  to  the  present.  He 
would  not'  or  indeed  could  not  sit  down  and 
learn  its  forms  with  any  degree  of  satisfaction  or 
thoroughness.  Grammar  to  him  seemed  dead 
and  he  must  have  life.  He  never  solved  the 
problem,  not  at  Gottingen,  not  at  Keilhau,  not  in 
the  Education  of  Man  with  its  punning  etymolo- 
gies and  its  ridiculous  suggestions.  Yet  language 
is  the  center  of  elementary  instruction. 

Froebel,  well  aware  of  this  difficulty  in  himself, 
proposes  to  remedy  it  at  Gottingen.  Grammar 
left  living  speech  divided  up  and  scattered  about 
in  dead  words  and  phrases  —  so  he  thought. 
Then  see  all  the  different  languages !  Froebel 
resolved :  "  I  must  unify  them,  so  I  shall  go  back 
to  the  first  one  and  start  with  that."  He  natur- 
ally looks  to  the  Orient  and  takes  Hebrew,  which 
must  have  been  the  primitive  tongue,  possibly  the 
one  which  God  spoke  to  Adam  in  the  Garden  of 
Eden,  though  Froebel  does  not  say  so.  With 
Hebrew  he  associated  another  Semitic  language, 
Arabic;  upon  these  two  he  put  forth  his 
strength. 

From  them  he  thought  he  could  open  a  path 
to  Sanscrit  and  Persian,  and  thus  wheel  all  the 


FEOEBEL  AS   TEACEEE  AND  PUPIL.        119 

languages  of  the  world  into  one  line  of  descent. 
The  diversity  of  human  speech  must  be  gotten 
over,  the  confusion  of  tongues  at  the  tower  of 
Babel  must  be  transcended  ere  much  can  be  done 
with  linguistic  science.  Froebel  intimates  that 
he  had  heard  the  rumor  of  the  relationship  be- 
tween Persian  and  German ;  the  report  of  the 
great  movement  in  Comparative  Philology,  then 
in  its  beginning,  had  reached  his  ears,  but  he  did 
not  study  it  at  this  time  or  hereafter.  For  it 
turns  on  grammar,  and  the  comparison  of  gram- 
matical forms,  which  Froebel  simply  could  not 
master,  through  repugnance  and  inability. 
Grammar  is  an  established  order  against  which 
he  revolts.  (17) 

Accordingly  the  whole  scheme  of  study  at  Got- 
tingen  broke  down  in  a  short  time ;  he  threw  up 
his  Oriental  studies,  abandoning  even  Hebrew,  the 
germinal  tongue  out1  of  which  all  the  rest  were  to 
evolve.  Still  he  says  he  clung  to  Greek  with 
unconquerable  fascination.  But  in  general  he 
gives  up :  * '  that  mass  of  speech  as  it  was  thrown 
upon  me,  I  saw  no  way  to  vivify/ 

Meanwhile  he  began  to  be  occupied  with  a  far 
more  congenial  matter.  He  took  walks  by 
night  in  the  neighborhood  of  Gottingen;  on 
one  of  these  walks  he  discovered  a  comet  "  for 
himself,"  though,  of  course,  it  was  known  be- 
fore. Its  circular  orbit,  the  round  dome  of 
Heaven  above,  and  those  little  fire-balls,  the  stars, 


120  THE   LIFE    OF   FROEBEL. 

led  him  to  reflect  long  and  deeply  on  the  Sphere, 
and  its  law.  Here  dawns  upon  him  something 
which  will  stay  with  him  through  life,  de- 
veloping more  and  more  till  it  becomes  the 
Sphere  out  of  which  will  be  unfolded  the  kinder- 
garden  Gifts.  So  the  comet  with  its  suggestions 
begins  to  turn  him  away  from  languages  to 
nature.  (18) 

Meantime  his  money  had  given  out,  and  he 
began  casting  around  for  something  to  do. 
Rather  strangely  he  thought  of  making  money  by 
his  literary  work,  which  would  certainly  have 
been  a  failure  if  he  had  tried  it.  But  here  Prov- 
idence steps  in  to  help,  an  aunt  unexpectedly  dies 
at  the  right  moment,  leaving  him  a  small  inherit- 
ance. This  aunt, be  it  noted,  was  on  his  mother's 
side.  During  vacation  he  visits  his  brother 
Christian,  a  successful  business  man  at  Osterode, 
with  great  advantage  to  mind  and  body,  when  he 
returns  to  his  studies  at  Gottingen. 

But  this  second  period  of  his  Gottingen  career 
is  different  from  the  first.  He  has  abandoned 
the  study  of  languages,  and  given  up  his  attempt 
to  find  the  unity  of  speech.  Now  another  unity 
attracts  him  mightily :  the  unity  of  Nature,  of 
which  he  had  received  some  glimmerings  already 
at  Jena,  and  which  had  found  expression  in  the 
universal  spherical  law  before  mentioned. 

The  branches  which  he  now  selects  are  physics, 
chemistry,  mineralogy,  and  natural  history.  This 


FROEBEL   AS   TEACHER  AND  PUPIL.        121 

was  a  time  of  great  discovery  and  progress  in 
these  branches.  Froebel  has  at  last  found  his 
own  again,  and  becomes  deeply  absorbed  in  his 
work.  The  study  and  investigation  of  nature 
now  seems  to  be  the  foundation  of  all  education. 
He  also  tries  his  hand  at  the  study  of  history, 
politics,  and  political  economy,  evidently  without 
much  result.  The  laws  which  he  observes  in 
nature  he  seeks  to  identify  as  the  laws  of  the 
human  spirit  in  its  development,  and  thus  to 
make  them  educative.  This  is,  indeed,  just  in 
the  line  of  his  own  future  work :  nature  is  the 
grand  means  of  unfolding  man  into  the  knowl- 
edge of  himself  and  of  the  Divine  Order. 

In  this  variety  of  nature  studies,  he  finally 
concentrates  upon  one  thing :  the  crystal.  But 
herein  the  instruction  at  Gottingen  does  not 
satisfy ;  he  breaks  with  it,  and  resolves  to  go 
elsewhere.  He  has  heard  of  Professor  Weiss, 
the  great  crystallographer  of  the  Berlin  Univer- 
sity; thither  he  must  go,  for  the  crystal  has 
now  come  to  mean  more  to  him  than  anything 
else. 

In  reviewing  Froebel' s  career  at  Gottingen, 
we  find  him  occupied  supremely  with  unity, 
which  presented  itself  to  him  in  three  phases : 
the  unity  of  mankind,  the  unity  of  language, 
and  the  unity  of  nature.  But  he  reacts  against 
language  and  gives  himself  up  wholly  to  natural 
science,  specially  to  crystallography.  In  this 


122  THE   LIFE    OF   FEOEBEL. 

we  may  note  the  following  movement,  which 
has  its  significance  in  the  kindergarden :  from 
the  sphere,  the  curvilineal,  he  passes  to  the 
crystal,  the  rectilineal  —  from  Ball  to  Cube. 

At  Gottingen  he  tried  to  do  too  many  things 
in  too  short  .a  time.  Several  languages  at  once, 
to  be  swallowed  and  digested  in  a  few  months ; 
no  wonder  he  got  a  linguistic  dyspepsia.  Then 
nearly  all  the  physical  sciences,  not  to  speak  of 
a  little  by -play  in  the  acquisition  of  the  social 
sciences,  he  takes  up  at  once.  Also  we  must 
recollect  that  he  was  poorly  prepared;  thorough, 
regular  work  he  had  never  had.  A  tentative, 
changeful,  dissatisfied  going  from  one  thing  to 
another  seems  to  have  been  his  course  at  this  time. 

Still  Gottingen  left  its  mark  upon  him  for  all 
his  life.  He  seems  to  have  gotten  here  (though 
this  is  not  certain)  his  first  insight  into  that  edu- 
cative principle  which  runs  through  his  later 
work :  the  child  develops  as  the  race  has  devel- 
oped. Herbart  has  also  this  principle  and  Her- 
bart  had  been  at  Gottingen  before  the  time  of 
Froebel,  having  left  there  in  1809.  Froebel's 
search  after  the  primitive  linguistic  source  for  the 
purpose  of  teaching  language  in  accord  with  its 
origin  and  development,  implies  the  above  prin- 
ciple. 

But  his  most  permanent  and  fruitful  acquisition 
at  Gottingen  was  his  insight  into  the  place  of  the 
sphere  in  the  universe,  or  «'  the  universal  spheri- 


FROEBEL  AS   TEACHER  AND  PUPIL.        123 

cal  law  "  as  he  calls  it,  which  will  be  a  great 
creative  power  working  through  all  his  days. 

Froebel  reaches  Berlin  October,  1812,  after  a 
visit  to  his  brother.  Here  he  finds  what  he  wants 
in  the  lectures  of  Professor  Weiss,  which  awak- 
ens in  him  more  and  more  "  the  conviction  of 
an  inner  demonstrable  connection  in  all  cosmical 
development."  So  we  see  the  idea  of  evolution 
dimly  fermenting  within  him,  and  he  too  in  a 
sense  may  be  considered  as  one  of  the  precursors 
of  Darwin.  Such  an  idea,  however,  had  been 
made  familiar  by  Goethe. 

To  earn  money  for  his  support  he  taught  in  an 
Institute  founded  by  Plamann,  who  likewise  had 
been  a  pupil  of  Pestalozzi.  Froebel  did  not 
think  much  of  this  school,  as  he  dismisses  it  with 
a  few  contemptuous  words  in  his  Autobiography. 
There,  however,  he  met  Jahn,  affectionately 
called  Father  Jahn  by  the  Turner  organization 
which  he  had  founded  as  a  means  for  physical 
and  moral  training  in  order  that  Germany  might 
free  itself  of  French  domination.  Jahn  was  a 
great  promoter  of  what  may  be  called  the  grand 
Teutonic  uprising  of  1813,  which  led  finally  to 
the  downfall  of  Napoleon.  In  such  company  at 
the  Plamann  school,  Froebel  could  help  hearing 
a  stimulating  piece  of  news. 

He  was  leading  a  very  retired,  studious  life, 
when  he  was  stirred  up  by  a  great  national  excite- 
ment and  whirled  with  no  small  energy  out  of  his 


124  THE   LIFE    OF    FROEBEL. 

solitary  crystal  life  into  a  red-hot  lava-stream  of 
war  fever.  The  German  folk-spirit  had  been 
roused  from  its  sleep,  and  the  center  of  the  up- 
heaval was  Berlin,  in  the  winter  of  1812-13. 
The  Teutonic  and  the  Latin  races  had  again  come 
to  a  death -grapple,  as  in  the  olden  time  when 
Eoma  and  Germania  had  their  mighty  struggle,  a 
struggle  old  as  Hermann  (Arminius)  and  the 
legions  of  Varus,  continued  through  the  descent 
of  the  Northern  Peoples  upon  the  Roman  Empire, 
kept  alive  by  the  struggle  between  the  German 
Emperors  and  the  Papacy,  represented  in  the 
defiant  personality  and  deeds  of  Luther.  Again 
a  Latin  conqueror,  Napoleon,  had  sent  the  Teu- 
tonic folk  under  the  yoke  and  oppressed  them 
till  they  were  rising  up  against  him  to  a  man,  and 
once  more  were  marching  forward  to  the  Rhine. 
Froebel  responded  to  this  deep  call  of  his 
primeval  mother  Teutonia,  threw  aside  his  crys- 
tals and  his  books,  and  enlisted.  Not  very 
robust  in  body,  yet  tough,  what  there  is  of  him, 
he  will  endure  a  soldier's  life,  which  is  now  to  be 
described. 

VI. 

•  Froebel  as  Soldier. 

Froebel  was  not  the  young  fellow  who  goes  to 
war  from  a  love  of  adventure.  He  was  31  years 
old  and  had  a  distinct  purpose  in  life,  which  he 
was  pursuing  with  strong  concentration.  Edu- 


FROEBEL   AS   TEACHER  .AND  PUPIL.        125 

cator  he  intended  to  be,  but  was  making  himself 
too  much  of  a  hermit,  too  self -occupied.  He 
had  to  be  shaken  loose  from  his  personal  end  and 
made  to  feel  a  still  higher  end,  to  which  he  must 
sacrifice  himself,  in  order  to  attain  his  better 
self.  Break  away  from  the  school-room,  leave 
the  beloved  crystal  (now  Froebel's  sweet-heart), 
shoulder  a  musket  and  be  off  to  the  battle-field 
in  the  name  of  fatherland. 

The  soldier  life  of  Froebel  was  an  essential 
part  of  his  education  for  making  a  teacher.  He 
was  becoming  narrowed  in  his  interest,  absorbed 
too  much  in  his  own  personal  objects.  Now  the 
Spirit  of  the  Age  gives  him  a  wrench,  which 
means  some  fresh  discipline ;  he  has  to  take  a 
dip  into  the  folk-spirit  of  his  people,  which 
makes  him  one  with  them  in  deed  and  hope ;  he 
is  united  with  that  mighty,  brooding,  fecund 
soul,  unconscious,  yet  the  source  of  all  great 
national  movements  as  well  as  of  individual  great- 
ness. 

Here  we  may  begin  to  make  a  distinction  which 
runs  through  Froebel's  entire  life.  Deepest  love 
he  had  for  that  German  folk  as  a  native  race ; 
that  was  what  he  longed  to  educate,  and  when  it 
moved,  as  now,  he  moved  with  it  body  and  soul. 
But  he  had  evidently  little  love  for  the  German 
organized  State  as  it  existed  in  his  time ;  it  was 
a  congeries  of  separate  commonwealths  without 
unity.  He  confesses  that  as  a  movement  of 


126  %         THE   LIFE    OF    FROEBEL. 

these  States  or  rather  of  the  Prussian  State,  the 
war  excited  little  enthusiasm  in  him.  But  as  an 
uprising  of  the  German  people,  showing  their 
deep  folk-unity,  he  could  respond.  He  says  "  I 
had  no  Fatherland,  and  Prussian  I  was  not." 
The  actual  government  was  not  his  in  form  or 
spirit. 

It  is  characteristic  that  he  would  not  join  the 
regular  troops,  but  enlisted  in  a  free  corps  which 
was  organized  by  Baron  Von  Liitzow  for  a  pur- 
pose approaching  guerilla  warfare.  These  sol- 
diers were  to  hang  on  the  enemy's  flanks,  strike 
him  in  the  rear,  harass  him,  and  stir  up  the 
country  people  to  resistance.  So  Froebel  was  in 
the  army  a  free  lance,  he  refused  to  be  regular- 
ized, showing  his  dislike  of  routine  and  formal 
organization.  He  was  a  guerilla,  and  something 
of  the  sort  he  remained  all  his  life. 

With  a  company  of  Berlin  students  he  goes  to 
Dresden,  headquarters  of  the  corps,  which  was 
named  the  Black  Hunters,  or  the  wild  troop  of 
dare-devils.  Jahn  was  along  as  leader,  he  knew 
Froebel  from  the  Plamann  School,  and  designated 
him  as  that  strange  fellow  who  could  read  won- 
ders out  of  stones  and  cobwebs.  During  the 
first  morning  halt  on  marching  out  of  Dresden, 
Jahn  introduced  to  Froebel  a  companion  in  arms 
and  a  fellow-countryman,  a  Thuringian  from 
Erfurt. 

This  young  man,  not  yet  quite  21  years  old, 


FBOEBEL  AS   TEACHER  AND  PUPIL.        127 

of  fine  stately  presence  was  Heinrich  Langethal, 
student  of  Theology  at  Berlin,  ever  memorable 
among  the  co-workers  with  Froebel. 

Soon  Langethal  found  occasion  to  intro- 
duce to  Froebel  his  dearest  friend  and  com- 
rade, Wilhelm  Middendorf,  a  Westphalian, 
from  Brechten  near  Dortmund,  also  student  of 
Theology  at  Berlin.  Middendorf  was  not  yet 
twenty  years  of  age,  thus  eleven  years  younger 
than  Froebel,  while  Langethal  was  ten  years 
younger.  Note  this  difference  of  age,  as  it 
accounts  in  part  for  the  intellectual  preponder- 
ance of  the  older  comrade.  Even  a  third  con- 
genial friend  appears  by  the  name  of  Bauer,  but 
him  we  shall  here  dismiss  as  he  means  quite 
nothing  to  the  future  of  this  narrative. 

Thus  we  find  Froebel  making  friends,  though 
he  did  nothing  of  the  kind  at  Gottingen,  nor  at 
Berlin.  A  solitary  genius;  but  the  continuous 
association  of  the  march  and  the  camp  is  bring- 
ing him  out  of  himself  and  socializing  him.  He 
is  going  to  school,  but  of  a  new  kind;  also  he  is 
still  a  teacher,  for  he  begins  instructing  his  two 
young  companions  in  the  educational  Idea.  Pu- 
pil and  teacher  still,  though  a  soldier  in  the 
ranks,  behold  him  both  giving  and  getting. 
Surely  his  horizon  is  widening. 

And  I  beg  thee,  my  reader,  to  take  notice  of 
that  youth  who  hangs  upon  the  words  of  his  new- 
found friend  with  an  interest  which  approaches 


128  THE   LIFE    OF    FROEBEL. 

absorption.  He  drinks  down  the  conversation  of 
Froebel  with  a  joy  bordering  on  ecstacy,  and  is 
already  tied  to  him  by  a  bond  stronger  than  life 
or  death.  That  youth  is  Wilhelm  Middendorf, 
he  of  the  winning  way  and  word,  whom  all  men 
admire,  and  especially  all  women  love  at  the 
first  glance,  but  who  will  have  one  deep  abiding 
love,  and  that  is  Froebel.  Mark  him  well, 
for  he  is  the  Hector  of  this  Froebelian  Iliad 
now  opening  with  the  present  war,  and  running 
through  forty  years  of  comradeship  in  life's 
conflict,  when  both  will  be  laid  to  rest  not  far 
apart  in  place  and  time.  The  Hector  we  call 
him,  more  beloved  than  the  hero  himself,  the 
Achilles,  still  he  is  not  the  hero. 

And  before  we  pass  on  to  the  narrative  we  may 
note  that  another  youth  is  beginning  to  attach 
himself  to  the  little  group  or  rather  to  Middendorf 
personally.  His  name  is  Prohaska,  of  slender 
build,  with  a  piping  voice  and  smooth  lip  showing 
no  sign  of  even  a  pin-feathered  moustache,  yet  a 
most  valiant  soldier ;  he  refuses  to  lie  down  when 
the  enemy  fire,  saying,  "  I  shall  make  no  bow  to 
the  French."  Somewhat  shy  and  retired  in  the 
presence  of  the  others,  he  grows  more  and  more 
devoted  to  Middendorf,  who  once  chaffed  him 
for  being  so  bashful  toward  the  girls  who  flocked 
into  the  camps  along  the  march  to  see  the 
soldier  boys  going  out  to  fight  for  fatherland. 
Prohaska  reddening  replied :  4 1  I  have  the  one 


I)  . 
THE   ^y 

UNIVERSITY 


FROEBEL   AS    TEACHER  AND  PUPIL.        129 

only  love  to  give  away  —  and  that  is  for  my 
country." 

Froebel  seems  now  to  have  found  his  first  real 
friends,  friends  of  his  genius,  devoted  to  his  Idea. 
On  the  march  from  Dresden  to  Leipzig  the  bond 
between  the  three  keeps  growing,  Froebel's  self- 
isolation  is  broken  up,  at  least  for  the  time  being. 
An  outer  War  of  Liberation  it  is  for  the  Teutonic 
folk,  but  an  inner  liberation  is  likewise  going  on 
in  all  three  individuals,  determining  their  future. 
The  two  students,  with  the  enthusiasm  of  youth, 
become  filled  with  Froebel's  ideal  of  education 
and  will  assist  him  to  realize  it  hereafter,  Mid- 
dendorf  clinging  to  Froebel  till  death.  Pupils  of 
Fichte  and  Schleiermacher  both  the  new  friends 
were,  and  there  was  many  a  chance  to  make  the 
weary  hours  of  the  march  and  bivouac  pass 
lightly  through  lofty  discourse  on  philosophy. 
Chiefly  the  new  educational  Idea  was  talked  of; 
probably  more  thought  was  given  to  it  than  to  the 
enemy.  The  three  paid  a  visit  together  to  the 
beautiful  Cathedral  at  Meissen,  and  drank  in  its 
architectural  glories,  nor  did  they  fail  to  take  a 
drink  of  the  excellent  Meissen  wine,  as  Froebel 
himself  has  duly  recorded. 

When  sterner  duties  relaxed,  Froebel  pursued 
his  studies  in  camp ;  he  was  seen  with  his  little 
hammer  knocking  stones  to* pieces,  and  collecting 
miner alogical  specimens.  He  read  some  books; 
especially  he  notes  the  descriptions  of  Nature  in 


130  THE    LIFE    OF    FHOEBEL. 

Forster's  Rhine  journeys.  He  also  casts  a  glimpse 
into  the  meaning  of  military  discipline ;  he  seeks 
the  inner  necessity  and  connection  of  all  the  drill 
exercises.  Not  without  use  in  his  school  will 
such  experience  be ;  also  he  observes  in  them  the 
grand  synthesis:  "  In  their  necessity  I  saw  free- 
dom." 

Meanwhile  the  three  friends  would  talk  and 
discuss  and  dream  a  dream  or  two,  man  and  his 
education  being  the  chief  subject;  in  all  of  which 
Froebel  was  particularly  drawn  toward  Midden- 
dorf.  He  notes  with  profit  "  how  little  the 
individual  person  belongs  to  himself,  in  a  state  of 
war,  but  how  much  he  belongs  to  the  Whole,  and 
how,  on  the  other  hand,  he  must  be  cared  for 
and  carried  by  the  Whole."  A  salutary  train- 
ing for  Froebel' s  individualism;  even  the  Free 
Corps  cannot  do  without  discipline,  and  it  has 
to  be  fed  by  some  hand  quite  invisible  to  the 
common  soldier. 

It  is  recorded  that  the  friends  smelt  gun- 
powder in  three  pitched  battles  and  in  a  number 
of  skirmishes.  The  tender-hearted  Middendorf 
found  great  difficulty  in  enduring  the  bloody 
horrors  of  the  field  of  carnage.  But  like  every 
soldier  he  had  to  steel  himself  and  look  grim- 
visaged  war  straight  in  the  face  without  blench- 
ing. Soon  he  was  called  upon  to  perform  a  most 
painful  duty.  At  the  battle  of  Gohrde,  his 
mate  Prohaska  refused  to  duck  down  with  the 


FEOEBEL   AS   TEACHER  AND  PUPIL.        131 

rest  of  the  company  when  the  enemy  delivered 
their  fire ;  the  result  was  a  bullet  brought  him 
down  mortally  wounded.  Middendorf  helped 
carry  off  his  comrade,  who  had  kept  growing 
more  attached  to  him,  both  having  shared  every 
danger  awake,  and  a  common  couch  in  their 
hours  of  repose.  .  As  the  slender,  smooth-faced 
form  lay  there  in  death  and  was  prepared  for  the 
last  funereal  rite,  the  discovery  was  made  that 
Prohaska  was  a  girl — Eleonore  Prohaska.  An 
astonishing  revelation  to  Middendorf,  who  was 
not  without  some  innocent  blushes ;  yet  the  fact 
accounted  for  much  that  was  mysterious  and 
secretive  in  the  fair  young  soldier's  conduct. 
That  touch  of  bravado  in  refusing  to  i  i  bow  to 
the  French,"  which  she  paid  for  with  her  life, 
was  really  to  conceal  her  sex.  Such  was  the 
romance  of  the  Amazonian  war-maid,  who  in 
spite  of  her  * '  one  only  love  for  fatherland  ' ' 
showed  pulsations  of  another  and  perchance 
stronger  love  breaking  up  through  her  military 
disguise.  Characteristic  of  Middendorf  is  the 
incident,  whom  Amazonian  and  other  women 
looked  on  with  favor  all  his  life,  but  who,  the 
innocent  youth  always,  never  knew  of  it,  being 
absorbed  in  his  "  one  only  love." 

In  the  ranks  of  this  Corps  was  the  poet  of  the 
grand  uprising  of  the  people,  Theodore  Korner. 
In  these  combats  he  found  the  material  for  his 
war-songs,  still  sung  by  Germany  when  it 


132  THE    LIFE    OF    FROEBEL. 

marches  out  against  the  foe.  ' '  Lyre  and  Sword ' ' 
is  an  immortal  strain,  voicing  the  great  Teutonic 
folk-spirit,  in  its  mood  at  this  time.  Korner  fell 
on  the  field  of  battle  aged  21,  still  singing  out  his 
soul  with  the  ebb  of  his  blood.  Goethe  has  been 
reproached  because  he  did  not  make  himself  the 
poet  of  his  nation's  great  awakening.  But  he 
did  not,  and  declares  that  he  could  not  at  his 
time  of  life  and  in  his  environment ;  one  must 
be  young  and  in  the  midst  of  the  battle  to  feel 
and  sing  the  war-song. 

Many  were  the  marches  and  countermarches, 
most  of  them  to  little  purpose,  it  would  seem. 
Froebel  declares  that  it  was  depressing  and 
weakening  ' '  never  to  know  anything  about  our 
proper  place  in  the  grand  totality  of  the  cam- 
paign, never  to  see  the  reason  of  our  many 
movements."  Danced  about  like  wooden  pieces 
on  the  chess-board  of  war  —  how  could  he  like 
that?  Soon  the  whole  thing  seemed  to  turn  to 
a  dream  in  which  accident  rules ;  so  he  inarched 
up  and  down  through  the  country  as  through 
dreamland,  not  knowing  why  or  wherefore,  or 
whither. 

The  peace  of  Paris  was  concluded  May  31st, 
1814,  and  the  war  was  over.  Everyone  of  the 
Corps  was  permitted,  if  he  so  chose,  to  return 
to  his  former  calling.  Froebel  went  back  to  Ber- 
lin to  resume  his  studies. 

He  had  been  a  soldier  a  little  more  than  a  year. 


FEOEBEL  AS    TEACHER  AND  PUPIL.        133 


What  had  he  gotten  by  this  rough  experience? 
Much  training  which  will  be  henceforth  of  serv- 
ice to  him  in  the  school.  He  has  had  his 
isolation  broken  into,  if  not  broken  up,  and 
has  been  rendered  more  human  and  sociable 
by  his  connection  with  a  large  body  of  men  co- 
operating in  a  common  cause.  Moreover  he  has 
developed  into  a  capacity  for  deep  friendship, 
having  made  during  this  war  the  two  great 
friends  of  his  life.  Then  he  has  become  truly 
national  and  German  through  the  grand  baptism 
of  the  folk-spirit.  In  whatever  he  does  here- 
after, he  can  stand  up  before  his  countrymen 
and  say :  ' '  For  you  I  have  staked  my  life  "  —  a 
great  thing  to  feel  and  to  be  able  to  say.  (19) 
But  after  this  mighty  expansion  of  his  world's 
horizon  there  follows  an  equally  great  contrac- 
tion, a  self -confinement  in  a  little  room  for  two 
years  with  that  sweet-heart  of  his  already  men- 
tioned, the  crystal,  from  whom  he  had  torn  him- 
self away  to  go  to  the  war.  Now  he  returns  to 
his  love  with  an  ardor  tenfold  on  account  of  the 
separation. 

VII. 

Froebel   as    Crystallographer. 

Froebel  had  been  promised  a  position  in  the 
government  service  of  Prussia  for  his  enlistment 
under  the  Prussian  flag.  When  he  returned  to 
Berlin  he  at  once  received  the  appointment,  which 


134  THE    LIFE    OF    FEOEBEL. 

was  a  place  in  the  mineralogical  museum  under 
Weiss.  His  occupation  brought  him  into  con- 
tact with  minerals  during  the  greatest  part  of*, 
the  day,  "  those  voiceless  witnesses  to  the  silent 
thousandfold  creative  activity  of  Nature."  Such 
were  now  his  most  intimate  friends,  he  lived  with 
them  all  to  himself,  behind  locked  doors  in  a 
noiseless  room.  Is  it  a  wonder  that  these  stony 
messengers  soon  began  to  speak,  and  to  tell  him 
their  message?  In  these  so-called  dead  masses 
of  rock  he  commenced  to  find  signs  of  activity, 
development,  law,  yea  the  law  of  development 
and  formation.  Of  some  such  .thing  he  had 
long  had  a  dim  presentiment,  at  Gottingen,  even 
at  Jena ;  "in  the  little  crystal  I  saw  the  course 
of  Providence  for  the  development  of  the  human 
race." 

Thus  Froebel  enters  upon  his  distinctively 
crystallographic  period,  which  runs  between 
1814—16.  Little  society  he  has  except  the  crys- 
tal, he  becomes  a  crystal  himself,  and  learns  its 
speech.  So  thoroughly  does  he  sink  himself  in 
this  occupation  that  his  soul  gets  a  distinct  crys- 
tallographic bent  which  lasts  through  life  and 
is  seen  in  all  his  schemes  of  education.  Going 
day  after  day  into  his  chamber  of  crystal,  as  if 
into  a  cave  of  stalactites,  he  examines,  fondles, 
and  labels  his  specimens,  he  himself  being  the 
most  remarkable  specimen  of  the  lot. 

Still  we    must   record    that    other  visions  now 


FROEBEL   AS    TEACHER   AND   PUPIL.        135 

and  then  penetrate  even  his  stalactite  cave.  One 
day  he  meets  in  the  Museum  Wilhelmine  Hof- 
meister,  a  highly  cultivated  Berlin  lady,  daughter 
of  a  Prussian  official  of  some  rank.  How  did 
she  come  to  flit  across  his  track  just  here?  An- 
other case  of  Providence,  possibly;  at  any  rate 
they  engage  in  conversation,  Froebel  unfolds  to 
her  his  view  of  Nature,  and  then  passes  to  his 
scheme  of  education.  Keep  her  in  mind;  he  will 
not  forget  her. 

The  crystallographer  secretly  works  away  in 
his  chamber,  like  a  crystal  slowly  and  quietly 
forming  itself.  He  sees  nature  shooting  into 
right  lines  out  of  chaos,  thus  she  begins  to  take 
on  her  forms.  He  is  working  back  to  the 
primitive  cosmical  energy  and  beholding  the 
universe  organize  itself.  All  of  this  he  will 
hereafter  apply  to  the  unfolding  of  man,  and 
specially  of  the  child,  who  also  begins  with  an 
inner  chaos  which  must  organize  itself  mainly 
through  education. 

His  present  occupation  has  its  connection  with 
the  preceding  war  experience.  In  the  latter  he 
felt  the  dark  unconscious  folk-spirit  in  inner 
upheaval  and  final  outbreak;  it  too  showed  an 
elemental  energy  and  was  forming  on  new  lines ; 
in  this  mighty  movement  Froebel  participated, 
and  went  forth  against  the  resisting  foe  along 
with  his  people.  But  having  returned  from  the 
people's  evolution,  he  turns  to  that  of  Nature, 


136  THE    LIFE    OF    FROEBEL. 

and  beholds  her  in  her  secret  workshop,  making 
forms,  uttering  herself  in.  native  power,  world- 


creating. 


Still  even  in  his  deepest  absorption  he  does  not 
intend  to  remain  a  crystal.  He  is  thinking  of 
his  vocation,  which  must  be  that  of  educator. 
But  how?  For  a  time  he  imagines  he  may  train 
himself  to  a  Professorship  in  a  University.  But 
he  soon  finds  this  impossible.  He  has  no  clas- 
sical education,  which  is  the  patent  opening  the 
guild  of  the  learned;  then,  too,  he  lacks  a  fun- 
damental training  in  Natural  Science  in  spite  of 
all  his  occupation  with  this  branch.  So  he  clearly 
s,ees  himself  shut  out  from  the  University,  for 
which  indeed  he  has  no  call.  He  never  can  be- 
come simply  the  erudite  Professor  in  the  dusty 
Halls  of  Learning,  he  is  to  be  educator  of  the 
people  in  whose  spirit  he  so  deeply  shares,  finally 
the  educator  of  little  children. 

Still  the  voiceless  crystals  are  telling  him  their 
message.  He  sees  the  Godlike  is  not  alone  the 
gigantic,  but  also  the  atomic,  manifesting  all  its 
fullness  and  strength  in  the  smallest  of  the  small, 
in  the  tiny  crystal,  which  again  becomes  a  mirror 
for  reflecting  mankind's  development  and  history. 
"  Nature  and  man  seemed  now  mutually  to  ex- 
plain each  other."  The  inner  process  of  the 
spirit  he  sees  reflected  in  the  outer  process  of 
the  physical  world.  Man  is,  therefore,  to  get  a 
knowledge  of  himself  through  Nature  ;  moreover 


FROEBEL  AS   TEACHER  AND  PUPIL,        137 

he  is  t'o  be  educated  by  the  study  of  Nature, 
through  whose  stages  he  is  to  unfold,  because 
these  are  in  a  profound  correspondence  with  his 
own  stages  of  unfolding.  Thus  through  the  ex- 
ternal world  he  returns  to  the  inner  world  of 
himself,  and  develops  into  a  self-conscious, 
intelligent  being. 

So  much  the  crystal  is  teaching  Froebel ;  but  he 
proposes  to  apply  his  principle  to  other  branches. 
He  tackles  language  again,  that  black  monster 
lying  always  in  his  path.  He  starts  once  more 
the  study  of  the  classic  tongues.  One  of  his 
thoughts  pertains  to  the  vowel.  He  deems  that 
the  sound  of  i  designates  ' '  the  absolutely  inter- 
nal "  or  the  subjective,  while  the  sound  of  a  des- 
ignates "  the  absolutely  external,"  the  objective, 
the  material;  which  example  will  suffice. 

Upon  number  too  he  speculates,  with  a  view  to 
his  future  vocation.  In  all  he  is  seeking  the  law 
of  unity.  But  chiefly  in  Nature  he  is  tracing  the 
movement  of  the  human  spirit,  and  thus  trans- 
forming it  into  one  vast  symbol  for  educative 
purposes.  Herein  he  is  developing  and  realizing 
.the  germinal  tendency  which  he  received  at 
Jena.  • 

But  what  has  become  of  the  trio  of  friends? 
Toward  the  close  of  the  war  they  were  separated 
by  the  exigencies  of  th.e  campaign.  At  the  dis- 
banding of  the  Free  Corps,  Froebel  knew  not 
whither  Middendorf  and  Langethal  had  disap- 


138  THE    LIFE    OF   FROEBEL. 

peared;  but  they  had  returned  to  Berlin  also, 
and  resumed  their  theological  studies.  Unex- 
pectedly they  all  met  again,  but  they  did  not  at 
first  see  much  of  one  another,  Froebel  locking 
himself  up  in  his  stalactite  chamber,  where  he 
seemed  to  find  his  most  congenial  friends.  But 
from  this  crystal-life  he  is  shaken  up  by  a  new 
earthquake  and  cast  forth  into  the  world's  events, 
whereby  the  three  comrades  are  again  thrown 
together  into  the  swirl  of  the  time. 

Napoleon  returned  from  Elba  in  1815,  at  once 
the  call  to  arms  resounded  throughout  Germany 
and  all  Europe.  Our  three  friends  hastened  to 
enlist  a  second  time.  But  so  great  was  the 
rush  of  volunteers  that  students  were  sent  back 
to  their  studies,  and  officials  to  their  posts. 
Froebel  again  returned  to  his  crystals,  and  worked 
away  in  secret,  like  an  energy  of  Nature  herself. 
One  more  year  he  has  to  pass  in  his  stalactite 
chamber ;  a  professorship  of  mineralogy  is  offered 
him  at  Stockholm,  which  he  refuses — not  that 
way  lies  his  vocation  now.  But  in  the  year  1816 
he  declares  his  freedom.  He  quits  his  crystals 
and  leaves  Berlin — whither  has  he  gone?  A 
new  chapter  of  his  life  has  opened.  (20) 


FEOEBEL  AS   TEACHES  AND  PUPIL.       139 

VIII. 

Retrospect. 

We  may  now  take  a  brief  survey  of  this 
Chapter  which  is  entitled  Froebel  as  teacher  and 
pupil,  inasmuch  as  he  shows  himself  as  both 
throughout  its  course.  And  yet  an  inner  move- 
ment must  be  noticed  in  these  various  changes. 
At  Gruner's  school,  the  starting-point,  he  was 
teacher  yet  he  was  learning  much;  he  as  pupil, 
however,  stood  in  the  background,  for  he  was 
hired  to  instruct. 

But  when  he  reaches  Yverdon  he  is  openly 
both  teacher  and  pupil;  he  goes  to  school  him- 
self and  shares  in  the  instruction,  yet  also  is 
tutor  to  the  three  boys  Von  Holzhausen,  who 
are  with  him.  When  he  returns,  he  quits  even 
this  relation  and  becomes  at  Gottingen  the  pupil 
or  student,  yet  always  with  the  vocation  of 
teacher  in  the  background.  His  soldier  life  was 
a  discipline,  he  says  it  was  necessary  for  him  as 
teacher;  and  then  his  crystallography  simply 
unfolded  his  view  of  education,  which  he  has 
now  set  out  to  realize,  the  training  for  it  being 
ended. 

Thus  we  see  a  movement  in  this  Chapter  from 
the  teacher,  implicit,  crude,  undeveloped,  through 
the  learner  back  to  the  teacher,  who  now 
has  realized  himself  and  has  attained  his  own 
view  of  education.  He  has  come  to  clearness 


140  THE    LIFE    OF    FROEBEL. 

about  his  vocation,  at  least  he  has  drawn  its  out- 
lines in  his  thought ;  now  he  is  ready  to  be  not 
only  an  instructor  under  others,  but  an  educa- 
tor under  his  own  guidance,  himself  a  principal 
of  a  school,  like  Gruner,  yes,  like  Pestalozzi; 
even  the  latter  he  thinks  he  can  transcend.  One 
reason  why  he  hurried  off  to  the  University  after 
his  experience  at  Yverdon,  was  what  he  saw  there ; 
he  saw  that  "Pestalozzi  was  ignorant  of  the 
branches  taught  in  his  own  school,  and  so  was 
victimized  and  dominated  by  his  subordinate 
teachers. 

Froebel  might  well  resolve  nothing  of  that 
sort  should  happen  to  him  in  his  career,  and 
so  he  feels  the  necessity  of  the  acquisition  of 
the  sciences,  at  least  in  their  fundamentals,  for 
his  success  and  for  his  supremacy  in  his  own 
sphere.  He  must  know  what  is  going  on  in  his 
school,  and  not  be  helpless,  as  he  saw  poor  Pes- 
talozzi to  be.  Still  he  will  not  wholly  escape 
trouble  on  this  side. 

Thus  eleven  years  of  his  life  have  passed  since 
he  entered  the  Gruner  school  in  1805,  —  quite 
a  fragment  of  human  existence.  Four  of  these 
he  has  been  employed  as  teacher  at  Frank- 
fort, two  as  teacher  and  pupil  at  Yverdon, 
1809-11,  five  more  as  student,  1811-16,  in- 
cluding the  year's  schooling  in  war. 

Let  it  now  be  understood  that  Froebel  has 
come  into  clearness,  not  only  about  what  his 


FROEBEL  AS   TEACHER  AND  PUPIL.        141 

vocation  shall  be,  but  also  about  how  he  shall 
carry  it  out.  He  likes  study  at  the  University, 
is  fond  of  philosophy,  of  science ;  above  all,  he 
loves  his  crystals,  those  dear  shapes,  mute,  yet 
very  expressive,  nay  affectionate  and  confidential 
toward  him  rather  more  than  toward  any  other 
man,  imparting  to  him  the  secret  of  the  Universe, 
the  law  of  development.  Of  course  he  loves 
them,  and  with  good  reason;  still  he  must  leave 
them  now.  They  have  told  him  their  story,  and 
have  nothing  further  to  say.  So  he  is  off  on 
a,  new  career. 

Manifest  it  is  that  he  is  possessed  of  an  Idea, 
all-controlling  in  life ;  this  possession  is  already 
so  strong  that  he  has  given  up  what  is  dearest, 
because  the  Idea  is  still  dearer. 

Such  is  what  may  be  called  the  pedagogical 
training  of  Froebel  during  these  years.  It  is 
essentially  his  Pestallozzian  period,  in  which  he 
comes  into  contact,  directly  and  indirectly,  with 
the  great  Swiss  teacher,  and  elaborates  the  expe- 
rience of  such  contact.  From  Gruner  to  Pla- 
mann  he  teaches  with  and  under  Pestalozzians ; 
also  he  makes  two  visits  to  the  Prophet  himself 
at  Yverdon.  Through  Pestalozzi  Froebel  may 
be  said  to  have  heard  the  voice  of  the  age  com- 
manding the  education  of  the  people ;  that  which 
the  Time-Spirit  gave  him  at  Jena,  he  must  now 
impart  to  all  in  the  best  way.  What  the  people 
were  and  what  they  wanted  he  began  to  feel  deeply 


142  THE    LIFE    OF    FEOEBEL. 

through  that  dip  of  his  into  the  folk-soul  of  his 
own  Teutonic  race  in  its  grand  movement  for 
freedom  during  the  War  of  Liberation.  By  this 
experience  he  comes  to  realize  that  man  is  an 
active,  productive  being,  and  that  he,  as  child, 
must  be  educated  through  the  "Will,  whose  final 
end  is  freedom.  Here  is  the  point  where  he 
makes  an  advance  upon  Pestalozzi,  being  led 
thereto  by  the  mighty  struggle  of  his  people  and 
his  own  personal  participation  in  their  movement. 
And  now  forward  to  the  deed  thyself,  and 
make  thy  thought  real  in  an  educational  institute, 
for  the  hour  has  struck ;  its  locality  cannot  be 
in  Berlin,  nor  anywhere  in  autocratic  and  bureau- 
cratic Prussia.  Forth,  then,  to  thy  native  hills 
of  Thuringia,  and  make  a  start  in  an  unobserved 
nook  of  liberty. 


CHAPTER     SECOND. 

FROEBEL  AS  PRINCIPAL. 

That  is,  Froebel  is  now  to  be  seen  in  a  new 
part  of  his  career:  he  founds  a  school,  an  ideal 
school,  and  makes  himself  principal;  he  is  no 
longer  subordinate  teacher  or  pupil.  His  ap- 
prenticeship to  his  vocation  has  been  completed, 
an  account  of  which  has  been  given  in  the  pre- 
ceding chapter ;  now  he  sets  up  for  himself  and 
proposes  to  realize  his  ideal  of  education. 

In  1816  the  new  institute  starts  at  Griesheim, 
a  small  Thuringian  village,  but  moves  the  follow- 
ing year  to  Keilhau,  where  it  remains.  The 
present  chapter  will  show  no  change  of  place 
except  the  one  mentioned ;  Froebel  is  now  fixed 
to  one  spot  for  many  years,  in  striking  contrast 
to  his  former  peregrinations  and  also  the  wan- 

(143) 


144  THE   LIFE    OF    FROEBEL. 

derings  of  his  later  life.  A  really  permanent 
abode  he  has  for  the  first  and  last  time;  a  full 
dozen  years  he  will  stay  in  his  school  as  working 
principal  (1816-28)  ;  his  visit  to  Krause  at  Got- 
tingen  is  the  beginning  of  his  separation,  the  first 
break  from  it, which  visit  took  place  in  1828.  Nom- 
inally, however,  he  continued  to  be  principal  dur- 
ing his  absence  in  Switzerland  and  afterwards. 
So  Froebel  founded  his  ideal  school  and  therein 
was  obeying  a  tendency  of  the  age,  was  listening 
to  the  suggestion  of  the  Time-Spirit.  Basedow 
and  Pestalozzi  had  preceded  him  with  such  insti- 
tutions, and  many  have  followed  him  with  kin- 
dred attempts  down  to  the  present  hour.  Some 
kind-hearted,  lofty-souled  man,  usually  with  a 
good  deal  of  ambition,  is  inspired  to  become  a 
world-reformer  by  educating  the  youth  of  the 
land  on  an  entirely  new  plan  discovered  by  him- 
self. This  new  plan,  however,  is  sure  to  be 
some  rehabilitation  of  the  ideas  set  in  motion 
over  a  hundred  years  ago  by  that  great  educa- 
tional magician  and  wonder-worker,  Jean  Jacques 
Kousseau,  a  pedagogical  romancer  and  necro- 
mancer the  like  of  whom  never  existed  in  the  tide 
of  time  for  blending  truth  and  delusion  into  rav- 
ishing shapes  and  projecting  them  down  the  ages, 
where  they  continue  to  wander  as  restless  ghosts 
troubling  posterity.  Let  us  note  the  common 
program:  no  more  punishment,  no  more  bad 
boys,  for  punishment:  is  what  makes  them  bad, 


FJROEBEL   AS  PRINCIPAL.  145 

no  discipline  through  order  and  the  return  of  the 
deed  upon  the  doer;  a  going  back  to  nature,  to 
the  country,  to  the  woods,  and  a  handing  over 
the  child  to  himself,  to  his  natural  impulses  and 
caprices;  and  this  is  his  training  to  freedom. 
A  good  deal  of  Rousseau  we  can  observe  in 
Keilhau,  as  well  as  in  many  recent  attempts  at 
founding  the  grand  new  educational  institute  of 
the  ages,  which  is,  of  course,  to  reform  the  world 
at  once  and  forever,  if  it  can  only  get  half  a 
chance. 

We  have  already  pointed  out  that  Froebel's 
school  had  in  it  a  strong  element  of  Romanticism. 
There  is  the  flight  from  the  Real  to  the  Ideal, 
embodied  to  some  extent  in  all  the  teachers. 
The  result  is  Keilhau  has  a  decided,  idyllic, 
poetic  life ;  we  think  of  Rosalind  and  the  Forest 
of  Arden,  and  the  flight  of  the  lovers  to  the 
Wood  near  Athens,  and  other  fugitives  from  the 
real  to  the  ideal  world  in  the  comedies  of  Shake- 
speare. This  poetic  strain  runs  through  the 
whole  Keilhau  period  and  gives  to  it  a  peculiar 
coloring  along  with  a  kind  of  musical  attunement ; 
the  entire  story  of  it  could  be  made  to  sing,  if 
the  poet  were  on  hand  and  sympathetic  with  the 
theme.  Chivalry,  too,  had  its  little  cult  there, 
read  of  by  the  students  in  romance  and  history, 
reproduced  in  their  sports  and  wanderings,  and 
sung  by  them  particularly  in  the  ballads  of 
Schiller. 

10 


146  THE   LIFE    OF   FEOEBEL. 

Then  the  other  romantic  element  must  be  duly 
noted,  that  of  the  tender  passion.  Strange  to 
say,  through  the  doings  at  Keilhau  there  is  a 
continuous  undercurrent  of  Love,  which,  work- 
ing silently,  brings  about  most  important  conse- 
quences. The  human  heart  is  also  there,  and  is 
performing  its  function,  uniting  and  separating, 
making  some  people  happy  and  others  miserable, 
in  the  criss-cross  of  emotions,  till  all  Keilhau  be- 
gins to  turn  hazy  with  romance,  and  this  biog- 
raphy, simply  recording  the  events  along  its 
course,  threatens  to  go  over  bodily  into  a  novel. 
Strange  threads  of  Fate  the  Love-God  will  spin 
all  through  this  story  of  Keilhau,  with  effects 
reaching  far  beyond  it  and  penetrating  to  the 
very  end  of  life.  A  deeply  tangled  love-skein 
with  passionate  charges  and  counter-charges  we 
shall  have  to  look  at  in  order  to  see  total  Keilhau 
in  its  truth. 

Such  is  the  chapter  before  us,  recording  the 
rise  and  flowering  of  Keilhau  with  its  movement 
upwards;  but  there  is  in  it  also  a  movement 
downwards,  a  destructive  element,  which  is 
secretly  hurrying  it  towards  its  fall.  Two  oppo- 
site threads  we  shall  find,  a  positive  ascending 
one,  and  a  negative  descending  one,  which  inter- 
weave and  interact  to  the  end  of  the  chapter, 
whose  general  sweep  is  the  rise,  culmination 
and  fall  of  Frederick  Froebel  as  principal  of 
Keilhau. 


FROEBEL  AS  PRINCIPAL.  147 

I. 

Griesheim. 

On  quitting  Berlin  Froebel  turned  his  steps 
toward  the  village  of  Griesheim  in  his  native 
Thuringia.  There  dwelt  the  widow  of  Christoph 
Froebel,  his  best  beloved  brother,  whose  name 
has  already  occurred  often  in  this  narrative. 
After  the  battle  of  Leipzig  the  typhus  fever 
broke  out  in  the  hospitals  and  raged  through 
central  Germany  like  a  pestilence.  The  Rev. 
Christoph  Froebel,  pastor  of  Griesheim,  nursing 
sick  Frenchmen,  the  enemies  and  invaders  of  his 
country,  but  still  human  beings,  caught  the 
malignant  fever  and  died  of  it  in  1813,  the  victim 
of  his  own  benevolence.  The  widow  was  still 
living  in  the  parsonage  when  she  summoned  in 
1816  Frederick  Froebel  to  her  assistance. 

She  had  three  boys  growing  .up  whose  educa- 
tion must  be  attended  to  if  any  of  them  were  to 
become  men  of  learning,  as  their  father  had 
desired.  The  eldest,  Julius,  was  already  eleven 
years  old,  and  had  begun  his  studies  at  the 
Rudolstadt  Gymnasium.  One  day,  toward  dusk, 
uncle  Frederick  walked  into  the  widow's  house, 
to  the  wonderment  of  the  boys,  who  took  a 
good  stare  at  the  tall  lank  man  with  long  hair 
and  black  hat.  They  probably  did  not  know  the 
fact,  but  he  had  not  a  penny  in  his  pocket, 


148  THE    LIFE    OF   FEOEBEL. 

having  spent  his  last  groschen  for  a  piece  of  bread 
a  few  hours  before  at  Erfurt.  Most  of  the  way 
from  Berlin  he  had  traveled  on  foot.  A  close 
calculation  he  had  certainly  made  in  the  matter 
of  expense;  still  he  had  gotten  through,  and 
he  doubtless  showed  a  good  appetite  for  the 
widow's  supper  that  evening. 

Madam  Christoph  Froebel  had  often  heard 
from  her  husband  about  the  educational  ideas  of 
his  brother,  with  whom  he  kept  up  an  intimate 
correspondence.  As  far  back  as  1807,  in  a  letter 
to  Christoph,  Frederick  had  unfolded  the  plan  of 
a  new  educational  institute,  "  very  modest  in  its 
beginning,  not  to  be  trumpeted  to  the  world  by 
the  newspapers,"  a  simple  family-school  in  the 
country.  Nine  years  ago  this  was,  but  circum- 
stance had  foiled  the  scheme  till  now,  when  the 
way  to  fulfillment  seems  to  have  opened.  TThen 
the  widow  wrote  him,  saying,  "  Come  now  and 
put  into  execution  your  plan  with  my  fatherless 
boys,  your  nephews,"  Froebel  answered,  "I 
shall  take  the  place  of  father  to  your  orphaned 
children."  (21) 

Such  were  the  words  which  Froebel  gave  in 
response  to  her  request  —  words  capable  of  two 
different  interpretations,  as  we  shall  see  in  the 
sequel.  Take  note  of  these  words,  my  reader, 
for  they  bear  in  themselves  the  secret  touch  of 
Destiny;  they  have  lurking  in  their  innocent 
sounds  the  germ  of  misunderstandings  and  deep- 


FROEBEL  AS  PRINCIPAL.  149 

'est  discords,  from  which  conflict,  disappointment 
of   hopes,   and   bitterest   hate   between  kindred 
will   spring,   and  propagate  its  progeny  of  ills 
through  a  life-time.     Well  did  the  ancients  hear 
in   the   Word    (fat-urn)    spoken    at   the  critical 
moment  a  fatal  note,  for  not  alone  was  the  per- 
son  speaking   there    and   then,   but    an   unseen 
Power   from   beyond   was   secretly  determining 
the  future   in  that  voice.     Out  of  this  promise 
of  Frederick  Froebel  a  dark  thread  of  fatality 
will  spin  itself  through  his  career  to  the  very  last 
day  of  his  existence  and  will  add  something  of  its 
color  to  the  history  of  the  whole  Family  Froebel. 
In  such   fashion,  then,  our   schoolmaster  has 
arrived  at  Griesheim,  with  no  money  in  his  pocket 
but  with  a  great  idea   in  his   head.     Now  he  is 
going  to  form  a  school  which  will  be  an  epoch  in 
education;  he  is    sure  he  can  make  an  advance 
on  Pestalozzi,  whose  work  he  had  seen  and  stud- 
ied at  Yverdon.     He  is  certain  of  himself  and  is 
not  hampered   by  an  excess  of    modesty.     But 
three  boys  are   hardly  enough  for  even  a  start ; 
accordingly  he  goes  to  another  brother,  Christian 
Froebel,  who  lives  at  Osterode,  and  succeeds  in 
obtaining  two  nephews  there   and  brings  them 
along.     Now  he   is  ready;   accordingly   on    the 
13th  day  of  November,  1816,  he  opens  the  Uni- 
versal German  Institute  at  Griesheim  on  the  Ilni, 
with  four  nephews,  the  filth  one,  little  Theodore, 
joining  afterwards. 


150  THE    LIFE    OF   FROEBEL. 

Free  development  was  the  rule  of  the  school,- 
and  the  boys  soon  developed  unusual  freedom. 
Neckties  were  cast  off,  and  hats  were  in  no  great 
demand;  there  was  a  return  to  nature  after 
Eousseau's  own  heart.  The  youths  roamed  the 
woods  in  search  of  plants  and  animals  and  in- 
sects, accompanied  by  their  teacher;  they  shot 
with  bows  and  arrows,  they  threw  spears;  they 
pulled  off  shoes  and  stockings,  waded  into 
streams,  made  dams  and  mills  and  fortresses, 
and  sometimes  they  would  have  a  free  fight. 
Two  old  ladies  lived  with  Madam  Christoph  Froe- 
bel,  her  mother  and  her  aunt ;  these  thought  the 
boys  wepe  being  ruined  by  their  uncle  and  were 
often  annoyed  by  the  liberties  of  the  youngsters, 
who  seemed  to  have  no  due  respect  for  age.  Not 
an  altogether  pleasant  situation  for  the  old  ladies 
desiring  peace;  for  we  must  recollect  that  the 
school  was  in  the  family,  though  Froebel  had 
rented  his  own  house  with  a  garden,  where  he 
lived  with  the  two  sons  of  Christian  Froebel, 
while  the  widow  still  stayed  at  the  parsonage. 

There  is  no  doubt,  however,  that  the  four 
cousins  were  having  a  good  time  with  uncle 
Frederick,  traveling  the  thorny  path  of  learning. 
He  loved  play  as  much  as  they  did,  and  could 
lead  them  in  it,  nay,  he  was  as  much  of  a  boy  as 
they  were,  in  spite  of  years;  a  spontaneous  play- 
spirit  was  his,  such  as  no  other  mortal  man  ever 
possessed,  and  he  kept  it  up  till  he  was  seventy 


FEOEBEL  AS  PRINCIPAL.  151 

years  old,  when  Death  one  day  bade  him  stop 
playing,  at  least  on  this  side  of  Time.  Interest- 
ing it  is  to  see  the  kindergarden  germ  in  his  work 
already ;  with  thes*e  boys  he  is  employing  play 
for  training,  as  he  will  hereafter  employ  it  with 
the  still  smaller  child  —  a  thing  shocking  to  the 
old  ladies  forevermore. 

In  doors  the  boys  had  more  serious  work ;  they 
were  taught  number  and  form  —  arithmetic  and 
geometry ;  they  were  carefully  trained  in  the 
native  tongue,  and  were  practiced  in  correct 
speaking  and  writing.  Certain  expressions  prev- 
alent among  the  people  of  Thuringia  at  this 
time,  having  been  caught  up  without  being  fully 
understood,  from  the  profanity  of  the  French 
soldier,  like  Sakkernondidieh,  were  remorselessly 
rooted  out,  not  only  on  linguistic  but  also  on  patri- 
otic grounds.  Of  that  hated  French  domination 
not  a  sign  was  to  be  left,  especially  such  a  corrupt 
sign.  With  astonishment  we  hear  that  the  boys 
already  at  Griesheim  were  taught  modeling, 
paper-folding,  form-pricking;  yea,  we  learn  that 
Froebelian  drawing  in  net-work  was  thus  early 
practiced  by  pupils,  one  of  whom  has  left  on 
record  that  it  was  extremely  fascinating.  So  far 
back  did  the  kindergarden  occupations  start  to 
sprouting  in  Froebel's  soul.  (22) 

Thus  the  Universal  German  Institute,  having 
gotten  under  way,  sails  merrily  through  the  first 
scholastic  year  1816-17.  Froebel,  optimistic, 


152  THE    LIFE    OF    FROEBEL. 

enthusiastic,  and  quite  incapable  of  deceiving 
anybody  but  himself,  now  summons  his  compan- 
ions-in-arms,  those  two  friends  out  of  the  War  of 
Liberation,  Middendorf  and  Langethal,  to  enlist 
under  his  banner.  For  he  had  begun  on  his  own 
account  a  second  War  of  Liberation,  the  inner 
one,  which,  however,  was  to  be  carried  out  in  the 
spirit  of  the  first,  uniting  the  German  folk  in  one 
great  movement  for  enfranchisement.  So  his 
voice  went  up:  Come,  my  fellow-soldiers,  and 
help  me  fight  this  new  battle  against  the  Powers 
of  Darkness  mightier  than  Napoleon. 

The  first  to  respond  was  Wilhelm  Middendorf. 
He  was  the  youngest  child,  and  the  favorite,  of 
a  prosperous  farmer  of  Brechten,  Westphalia, 
who  wished  above  all  things  to  see  his  son  a  min- 
ister in  the  home  parish.  This  son  had,  accord- 
dingly,  studied  theology,  and  had  taken  his  final 
examination  at  Easter,  1817.  So  far  he  had 
followed  the  desire  of  his  parent ;  then  he  made 
the  break  for  Froebel  and  Griesjieiin.  When 
the  two  were  comrades  in  1812,  Froebel  had  filled 
him  with  a  new  ideal ;  on  the  march  and  in  the 
bivouac  it  rose  before  him  as  they  conversed  to- 
gether—  the  new  ideal  of  education.  He  can 
no  longer  think  of  becoming  a  clergyman ;  ut- 
terly impossible  for  him  is  such  a  vocation  now ; 
he  must  be  a  teacher.  Theology  is  good  in  its 
way,  but  it  is  a  little  old,  in  fact  medieval;  the 
new  priestly  vocation  is  that  of  educator.  Froe- 


FBOEBEL  AS  PRINCIPAL.  153 

bel,  we  recollect,  re-acted  strongly  against  his 
clerical  f  ather '  s  calling .  So  Middendorf  takes  the 
great  step,  after  no  small  battle,  outer  and  inner, 
between  theology  and  pedagogy,  with  victory 
for  the  latter,  being  inspired  by  Froebel  with 
a  new  apostleship. 

As  a  dutiful  son  he  must  go  to  the  paternal 
home  and  explain  matters.  Very  trying  was  the 
ordeal;  the  old  father,  after  many  vain  appeals, 
exclaimed  in  the  spirit  of  ancient  Abraham: 
"  Heaven  has  abundantly  blessed  us,  for  that 
blessing  one  child  must  be  sacrificed  to  the 
Lord."  Middendorf  had  an  emotional  nature, 
with  a  strong  tinge  of  German  sentiment ;  also  a 
poetic  vein,  with  a  tendency  to  break  forth  into 
rhymes.  A  most  devoted,  faithful,  loyal  soul  to 
what  and  to  whom  he  had  given  his  heart,  and 
his  heart  he  had  given  unreservedly  to  Froebel. 
Middendorf  had  almost  no  negative  element  in 
his  character,  an  unfallen  spirit,  angelic,  inno- 
cent as  Eden  before  Satan's  entrance;  he  is  the 
one  and  the  only  one  of  Froebel' s  friends  who 
never  shows  the  least  swerving  or  estrangement. 
He  never  even  declared  his  independence ;  with 
a  kind  of  ecstasy  he  sank  away  into  the  Froe- 
belian  sea,  renouncing  individuality. 

Yet  Middendorf  had  his  gifts  very  different 
from  Froebel.  A  strikingly  beautiful  person, 
winning  all  men  at  first  glance,  and  particularly 
all  women;  while  dame  Nature,  in  the  matter  of 


154  THE   LIFE    OF   FROEBEL. 

giving  good  looks,  had  been  a  veritable  step- 
mother to  Froehel,  quite  as  malicious  as  his  real 
step-mother  at  Oberweissbach.  Middendorf  was 
eloquent,  Froebel  was  not;  Middendorf  was  a 
reconciling  character,  Froebel  often  showed  a 
repelling  energy ;  modest  the  one,  conceited  the 
other ;  but  let  us  end  this  string  of  contrasted 
predicables,  and  say  that  the  two  friends  were  in 
many  things  exact  counterparts,  complementary 
of  each  other,  and  hence  fitting  together  in  one 
totality.  Still,  let  it  be  remembered,  Froebel  was 
the  genius,  the  creative  spirit,  the  sun,  while 
Middendorf  was  the  moon,  the  beautiful  and 
happy  reflection  of  the  central  luminary. 

So  it  came  to  pass  that  Middendorf  reached 
Griesheim  on  a  fine  April  day  a  little  while  before 
Froebel' s  birth-day,  which  was  April  21st,  and 
which  was  duly  celebrated  by  the  family  and  by 
the  new-comer,  who  had  brought  along  a  younger 
brother  of  Langethal's  as  a  pupil.  Always  after- 
wards there  was  a  school  festival  on  Froebel' s 
birth-day. 

Middendorf  at  first  was  not  a  teacher ;  in  fact, 
there  was  small  need  of  him  'in  that  capacity 
during  these  early  days.  He  took  lessons  from 
Froebel  in  pedagogy,  and  so  was  a  pupil,  too; 
with  the  pupils  he  was  an  elder  companion,  and 
rambled  over  the  country,  while  at  home  he  ex- 
ercised his  story-telling  faculty,  giving  to  the 
boys,  among  other  things,  some  giant  folk-lore, 


FROEBEL  AS  PRINCIPAL.  155 

which  was  suggested  by  the  mountains  and  the 
names  of  places  in  the  neighborhood. 

But  what  means  this  new  bustle  at  the  parson- 
age? A  change  must  be  made ;  Madam  Christ- 
oph  Froebel  has  lost  her  right  of  residence  there 
through  the  death  of  her  father.  What  is  to  be 
done  now?  She  is  very  enthusiastic  for  the  new 
Idea,  the  school  must  not  be  given  up,  though  it 
has  to  be  transferred.  A  suitable  site  cannot  be 
purchased  at  'Griesheim ;  after  some  looking 
about,  the  right  place  is  found  in  the  little  village 
of  Keilhau,  some  ten  or  twelve  miles  distant. 
Just  the  right  place,  says  Frederick  Froebel, 
who  goes  to  the  locality  and  inspects  it;  just 
the  right  place  for  a  boys'  school;  see  this  fair 
Schaalbach  Valley,  these  rugged  hills  for  climb- 
ing, these  pine  woods,  health-giving,  inhabited 
by  the  squirrel,  the  fox,  and  even  the  deer,  with 
any  quantity  of  birds  in  the  tree-tops,  and  any 
quantity  of  flowers  springing  up  from  the  soil. 
Fun  for  the  boys  I  see  here  everywhere,  along 
with  the  study  of  nature ;  play  in  unison  with 
instruction  I  can  hear  singing  out  of  the  whole 
landscape.  Just  the  place  I  want  for  my  boys'- 
school ! 

But  Froebel  had  no  means ;  we  recollect  that 
he  reached  Griesheim  only  by  spending  his  last 
penny  for  some  bread.  Since  that  time  cer- 
tainly not  a  great  sum  of  money  has  flowed  into 
the  treasury,  and  father  Middendorf  was"  not  in 


156  THE    LIFE    OF    FROEBEL. 

the  mood  to  supply  his  son  Wilhelni  with  much 
ready  cash.  The  widow,  however,  is  enthusi- 
astic, and  has  withal  a  strong  will,  very  persist- 
ent in  fact.  She  possesses  a  small  property  at 
Stadt-Ilm  not  far  away,  this  she  sells  and  with 
the  proceeds  buys  the  location  at  Keilhau,  con- 
sisting of  a  farm  and  a  peasant's  hut,  with  an 
unfinished  dwelling-house  in  a  state  of  dilapida- 
tion, which  had  to  be  partly  rebuilt  before  it 
could  be  used.  Froebel  and  Middendorf  with 
their  boys  move  into  this  peasant's  hut  in  June, 
1817,  while  the  widow  with  her  sons  stays 
behind  in  Griesheini  till  the  dwelling-house  be 
completed.  Froebel  pulls  off  his  coat  and  starts 
to  work,  and  the  others  take  a  hand  in  clearing 

o 

up  the  neglected  premises;  he,  being  a  carpenter 
and  architect,  does  not  need  to  spend  any  money 
for  labor,  and,  besides,  he  has  no  money. 

Thus  the  school  has  found  its  home,  which  it 
will  never  leave.  Madam  Christoph  Froebel  has 
furnished  the  means,  little  enough,  yet  her  all; 
Frederick  Froebel  takes  her  property  and  uses 
it,  seeming  to  regard  what  is  hers  as  his  own. 
And  she  has  given  it  without  protest  or  stint.,  in 
deep  devotion  to  the  man  and  his  work,  keeping 
that  promise  of  his  alive  in  her  heart,  that  he 
would  "  take  the  place  of  father  to  her  orphaned 
children/'  But  what  lies  in  FroebePs  mind 
concerning  this  thread  of  his  life  which  the 
Fates  "are  covertly  spinning?  No  voice  of  his 


FEOEBEL  AS  PRINCIPAL.  157 

has  reached  us,  we  can  only  wait  till  Time  speaks 
forth  the  secret  in  the  event. 


II. 

Early  Keilhau. 

In  about  two  months  the  dwelling-house  was 
ready,  so  that  the  moving  could  take  place.  Ac- 
cordingly in  August,  1817,  Madam  Christoph 
Froebel  packs  up  her  household  goods  and  makes 
the  change  from  Griesheim  to  Keilhau.  The 
two  aged  ladies,  grandmother  and  grandaunt,  go 
along,  doubtless  with  some  premonitions  about 
leaving  the  old  spot,  also  about  this  questionable 
new  departure  in  educating  boys,  for  this  was 
not  the  way  in  their  youth.  A  German  moving 
it  was,  with  household  cows  and  pigs  and  poultry 
following  the  high-piled  wagon,  nor  were  the 
geese,  "  the  feathered  cattle,"  left  b.ehind,  the 
rich  source  of  the  luxurious  feather-bed  as  well 
as  of  that  blessed  dish,  when  fat  and  rightly 
roasted,  called  Gdnsepfefer. 

One  of  the  students  who  was  there  has  left  us 
a  description  of  Keilhau  at  that  time.  About  100 
inhabitants  and  20  houses,  some  of  which  were 
three  hundred  years  old ;  the  church  had  a  fine 
tower  but  descended  into  the  earth  like  a  cellar 
or  catacomb.  On  the  main  highway  of  the  vil- 
lage was  the  fountain,  in  whose  pools  along  the 
streets  sported  in  season  lizards  and  salamanders. 


158  THE    LIFE    OF   FEOEBEL. 

As  was  done  500  years  ago,  the  magistrate  used 
a  notched  stick  to  tell  off  the  fees  or  tithes  due 
from  the  people,  and  announced  verbally  any 
new  order  of  the  government,  as  if  printing 
existed  not.  The  watchman  armed  with  his 
medieval  hellebard  marched  daily  through  the 
village.  The  same  blue  coat  for  Sunday  de- 
scended from  father  to  son,  and  the  daughter 
wore  the  same  fine  toggery  that  had  decked  the 
mother  as  bride.  The  food  was  chiefly  fruit  and 
grain,  their  drink  the  crystal -pure  water  of  the 
village  fountain.  The  peasants  took  their  prod- 
ucts to  the  market  at  Rudolstadt;  there  they 
would  indulge  in  the  luxury  of  a  glass  of  beer,  or 
a  herring,  or  a  piece  of  sausage. 

Such  was  the  primitive  spot  in  which  Froebel 
began  reforming  the  world,  a  spot  somewhat  like 
in  innocence  to  that  original  Paradise  in  which 
Adam  made  his  start.  Froebel  flees  from  the 
city,  almost  from  civilization,  and  returns  to 
Eden  in  order  to  reproduce  the  new  man  by  edu- 
cation, so  great  is  his  faith  in  his  Idea.  He  will 
try  to  keep  out  the  Serpent  by  his  method,  since 
every  other  way  has  failed,  even  that  of  the  Lord 
through  divine  prohibition.  At  least  one  may 
say  that  here  in  Keilhau  is  still  to  be  seen  a  con- 
siderable remnant  of  the  Middle  Ages  in  custom, 
in  costume,  in  social  order,  in  spirit  and  in  back- 
wardness. 

And  now  let  us  consider  the  neglected  premises 


FEOEBEL  AS  PRINCIPAL.  159 

to  have  been  put  in  order,  the  new  school-house 
to  have  been  erected,  everybody  fairly  settled, 
and  the  boys  to  be  at  work  or  rather  at  play,  for 
this  was  their  chief  business,  the  happy  fellows! 
And  sure  enough,  they  were  at  play  with  some 
new  building  blocks  which  Froebel  had  just  given 
them,  when  lo !  approaching  in  the  distance  is 
the  tall,  dignified,  imposing  figure  of  a  gentleman, 
yet  showing  a  kindly  look  in  his  face  as  he  draws 
nearer  to  the  boys  who  have  stopped  their  play  for 
a  good  gaze.  Is  it  a  medieval  knight  haunting  this 
medieval  spot,  the  genius  of  the  place,  as  it  were? 
Not  exactly,  yet  somewhat  so.  He  is  soon  recog- 
nized by  both  Froebel  and  Middendorf ,  who  rush 
to  embrace  him  in  the  most  cordial  welcome,  while 
the  astonished  boys  gather  around  and  stand, 
except  one  little  fellow  who  also  makes  a  plunge 
for  the  stranger  and  calls  him  "  my  brother." 
Who  is  it?  Heinrich  Langethal,  friend  and  com- 
rade of  Froebel  and  Middendorf  in  the  War  of 
Liberation. 

So  on  a  September  day,  1817,  the  third  person 
of  this  trinity  of  friends  appears  at  Keilhau.  But 
alas!  he  does  not  intend  to  remain,  and  further- 
more his  plan  is  to  take  his  young  brother  away. 
Langethal  has  studied  theology  and  passed  a 
brilliant  examination ;  but  he  has  refused  a  cleri- 
cal position  and  accepted  that  of  a  tutor  in  a 
noble  family  of  Silesia.  Just  now  he  is  visiting 
his  people  at  Erfurt,  not  far  away,  and  has  come 


160  THE   LIFE    OF   FROEBEL. 

over  to  see  his  old  friends,  as  well  as  to  remove 
his  brother,  who  is  to  go  with  him  to  his  new 
place.  Not  a  joyful  piece  of  news  to  Keilhau; 
still  the  parting  is  not  yet,  as  he  proposes  to  stay 
a  few  days,  and  to  look  around,  and  to  take 
a  lesson  or  two  in  Froebel's  pedagogy,  of  which 
he  had  imbibed  a  good  deal  in  former  days  on 
the  march  and  in  camp. 

This  was  an  opportunity  which  Froebel  was  not 
slow  to  improve ;  he  knew  he  must  have  just 
this  man  to  round  out  his  work.  For  Langethal 
possessed  certain  necessary  qualities  which  Froe- 
bel and  Middendorf  both  lacked;  he  was  the 
best  teacher  of  the  three,  especially  for  the  more 
advanced  pupils;  he  possessed  a  more  thorough 
classical  training  than  either  of  his  friends,  had 
a  more  dignified  bearing,  commanded  a  loftier 
respect  from  those  wild  boys  —  and  always  get- 
ting a  little  wilder  —  with  whom  Froebel  and 
Middendorf  stood  more  on  the  footing  of  jolly 
equals.  Langethal' s  strong  point  was  dignity  of 
character  —  a  quality  quite  lacking  in  that  bois- 
terous Keilhau  hurly-burly  of  liberty,  eqal- 
ity,  and  fraternity,  which  took  up  every- 
body, large  and  little,  in  its  embrace,  not 
omitting  the  two  old  ladies  who  had  a  stand- 
ing feud  with  those  impertinent  youngsters, 
whose  naughtiness  Froebel  seemed  rather  to  en- 
joy. Yes,  Langethal  is  needed  there  with  his 
element  of  character,  and  nobody  knows  it  Better 


FROESEL  AS  PRINCIPAL.  161 

than  Froebel  himself,  who  besieges  his  friend  in 
long  walks  -and  talks,  till  the  latter  capitulates. 
The  tutorship  in  Silesia  is  canceled,  theology  is 
again  relegated  to  a  back  seat,  as  in  the  case  of 
Middendorf ,  and  Heinrich  Langethal  takes  an 
inner  vow  of  consecration  to  the  New  Idea. 
Great  rejoicing  at  Keilhau  over  this  triumph,  and 
well  there  may  be.  (23) 

In  this  decision  another  influence  was  at  work, 
very  subtle,  unmentioned  probably,  yet  shaping 
the  man's  career.  Langethal  had  a  chivalrous, 
medieval  strain  in  his  nature ;  a  touch  of  knight- 
errantry  lay  in  him,  and  he  loved  the  romance  of 
chivalry.  Of  a  sudden  he  found  himself  set 
down  in  a  village  of  the  Middle  Ages,  with  its 
distant  castle,  its  church,  nearly  all  spire,  its 
quaint  people.  The  spirit  of  Keilhau,  voicing 
that  olden  time,  appealed  to  him  powerfully: 
here  is  where  he  desired  to  live.  Already  we 
have  spoken  of  the  Romantic  School  and  its  in- 
fluence upon  Froebel  and  his  work,  as  well  as 
upon  Middendorf.  But  Langethal  was  the 
greatest  Romanticist  of  the  lot.  So  the  genius 
of  the  place  wThispered  to  his  kindred  genius  and 
persuaded  him  with  its  secret  promptings,  uniting 
its  spirit  power  to  the  words  of  Froebel,  and 
making  them  irresistible. 

In  his  native  town,  Erfurt,  Langethal  was  a 
man  of  influence,  which  showed  itself  in  the 
welcome  fact  that  five  pupils  came  thence  to 

11 


162  THE    LIFE    OF    FROEBEL. 

Keilhau  in  the  course  of  this  and  the  succeeding 
year.  Thus  the  school  kept  growing,  and  more 
buildings  were  needed.  Still,  poverty  held  its 
bony  grip  upon  the  work  and  strangled  many  an 
enterprising  scheme  of  improvement. 

Langethal,  having  entered  the  circle  of  in- 
structors, soon  won  the  very  souls  of  the  boys. 
His  tramps  with  them  over  the  mountains  ex- 
tended beyond  anything  they  had  ever  done  of 
the  kind  with  Froebel  and  Middendorf .  At  the 
same  time  he  opened  to  them  a  new  world  of 
the  imagination,  just  his  own  in  fact.  They 
read  with  him  The  Magic  Ring,  a  romance  of 
the  Middle  Ages;  he  sang  and  declaimed  for 
them  with  his  full  sonorous  voice  the  bal- 
lads of  Schiller,  especially  those  having  the 
color  and  background  of  chivalry,  as  the  Diver  or 
the  Battle  with  the  Dragon,  or  best  of  all,  because 
shortest  and  most  vivid,  Der  Handschuh  ;  then  he 
would  strike  up  the  patriotic  war-songs  of  the 
Lutzow  Corps,  when  Middendorf  would  fall  in 
with  his  fine  tenor  voice,  and  Froebel  too  could 
be  heard  varying  the  strain  with  his  peculiar  nasal 
snarling  tone,  which  he  could  not  suppress  when 
he  sang,  and  giving  to  the  whole  a  kind  of  a 
hurdy-gurdy  undertone. 

But  no  undue  familiarities  with  Langethal,  my 
boys;  he  was  always  dignified,  stately,  sonorous, 
commanding ;  he  was  their  veritable  knight  Teu- 
tonic, coming  down  from  the  old  German  eiiiper- 


FEOEBEL   AS  PRINCIPAL.  163 

* 

ors,  of  whose  tournaments  and  expeditions  they 
read  in  their  history.  Under  his  guidance  they 
built  castles  on  the  mountains  out  of  rock :  they 
made  helmets,  shields,  coats  of  mail  out  of 
papier  mache;  javelins,  swords,  arrows  they  cut 
out  of  wood.  The  old  medieval  world  of  German 
knighthood  they  reproduced,  and  actually  carried 
out  the  scheme  of  Eomanticism  in  their  play. 
Thus  the  boys  underwent  a  grand  transformation 
within  and  without,  they  had  high  ideals,  and 
lived  in  a  realm  where  they  could  build  lofty  air- 
castles  on  the  dizziest  heights  of  dreamland. 
And  furthermore  let  the  fact  be  noted ;  they,  as 
high-toned  knights  and  full  of  chivalrous  feeling 
toward  the  ladies,  now  disdained  their  former 
vulgar  sport  of  teasing  the  two  old  women,  who 
began  at  last  to  have  a  little  peace  in  this  ideal 
world  of  knighthood. 

Thus  the  Keilhau  school  slips  along  through 
the  cold  season  till  the  spring  of  1818,  amid 
much  enthusiasm  and  many  privations.  The 
boys  were  having  a  glorious  time,  even  if  the 
bread  was  dry  and  cracked  with  age,  and  the  but- 
ter rancid.  The  stove  would  smoke  in  the  school- 
room, but  what  of  that?  No  coffee  was  allowed, 
no  tea,  no  chocolate,  none  of  your  foreign 
decoctions;  pure  German  water  from  Keilhau 
fountain  is  the  only  patriotic  drink.  Somewhat 
more  dubious  the  matter  looked  when  bread  itself 
seemed  on  the  point  of  giving  out,  with  no 


164  THE   LIFE    OF   FROEBEL.     • 

money  in  the  till,  and  with  little  grain  in  the  land, 
and  that  very  dear.  This  period,  in  fact,  is  still 
known  in  Germany  as  the  years  of  famine.  The 
whole  set,  Froebel,  Middendorf,  Langethal,  the 
women  and  the  boys,  at  one  time  seemed  to  have 
become  bankrupt  together,  since  they  could  not 
rake  up  enough  money  to  buy  their  food,  as 
unpretentious  as  this  was. 

At  such  a  conjuncture  Madam  Christoph  Froe- 
bel stepped  to  the  front,  strong-willed  and  devoted 
to  the  cause.  She  had  a  lot  of  silverware,  chiefly 
heirlooms  coming  down  from  the  past;  these 
had  value,  nay,  could  be  melted  and  turned  into 
shining  metal  with  purchasing  power.  No  senti- 
mental tears  for  those  sacred  relics ;  she  would 
draw  them  forth  from  their  hiding-place,  piece 
by  piece  —  she  did  so  several  times,  accord- 
ing to  report  —  and  fling  them  into  jaws  of  the 
monster  Hunger,  thereby  appeasing  him,  and 
rescuing  the  Keilhau  band  from  his  maw.  Cer- 
tainly it  looks  as  if  the  community  had  been 
scattered  to  the  winds  but  for  such  action  on  her 
part.  So  much  she  has  done  for  the  cause  and 
for  the  man  who  has  promised  to  ''take  the 
place  of  father  to  your  orphaned  children." 

Meanwhile  the  warm  winds  of  spring  have 
begun  to  pipe  in  the  vale  of  Schaale,  and  vege- 
tation is  appearing  everywhere  in  response, 
bringing  berries  and  other  edibles  to  the  hungry. 
Stern  poverty  has  relaxed  her  grip,  and  the  boys 


FROEBEL  AS  PRINCIPAL.  165 

are  roaming  the  fields  and  mountains,  for  in- 
struction of  course,  but  not  neglecting  to  take 
their  fill  of  wild  strawberries  which  abound  in 
those  parts.  But  listen!  amid  the  soft  kisses  of 
the  breeze  and  the  merry  song  of  the  birds  in 
the  merry  month  of  May,  is  mingled  a  discordant 
note,  getting  louder  and  louder  to  downright 
anger  and  separation.  What  is  the  matter? 

In  June,  1818,  Madam  Christoph  Froebel  is 
again  packing  her  household  goods,  and  is  pre- 
paring to  leave  Keilhau.  Moreover  she  threat- 
ens to  sell  the  farm  and  appurtenances,  which 
are  her  property,  to  the  highest  bidder.  School 
and  all  will  have  to  go,  as  Froebel  has  no  money, 
nor  has  Middendorf ,  nor  has  Langethal.  What 
is  to  be  done  with  the  woman,  strong-willed, 
strong-tongued,  yea,  strong-boned,  now  rouse<J 
to  a  high  pitch  of  indignation?  At  last  she  is 
appeased  to  the  extent  of  selling  out  to  Froebel 
at  a  high  price,  taking  his  promises  to  pay,  and 
leaving  her  boys  still  at  his  school.  Then,  with 
a  malediction  in  her  heart  upon  the  man  who  said 
he  would  take  the  place  of  father  to  her  orphaned 
children,  she  quits  Keilhau  and  moves  to  another 
town  not  very  far  off  called  Volkstadt,  from 
which  for  years  hence  she  will  look  out  upon  the 
school  and  its  principal  with  a  deep  sense  of 
wrong,  possessing  almost  the  fabled  power  of 
the  Evil  Eye. 

What  is  the  cause  of  the  tempest?     A  certain 


OF    THK 

UNIVERSITY 


166  THE    LIFE    OF    FROEBEL. 

disquieting  rumor  has  been  going  the  rounds  of 
the  village,  and  she  has  heard  it  with  great  per- 
turbation ;  in  consequence  of  it,  she  has  had  an 
interview  with  Froebel,  and  he  has  acknowledged 
to  her  that  he  is  going  to  marry  another  woman. 
Good  Heavens !  Who  is  it? 

III. 

Froebel's  Marriage. 

Already  the  reader  has  seen  the  form  of  Hen- 
rietta Wilhelmine  Hoffmeister  flitting  momen- 
tarily across  Froebel's  path  of  life  when  he  was 
in  the  Mineralogical  Museum  at  Berlin.  Into  his 
solitary  stalactite  chamber  of  crystals  she  came 
one  day,  with  an  illumination  never  forgotten  by 
him ;  he  spoke  to  her  and  began  conversing  about 
his  Idea,  into  which  she  entered  with  marvelous 
sympathy  and  appreciation.  Only  this  one  time, 
seemingly,  did  she  appear  to  him,  but  that  was 
enough.  Moreover  she  and  her  family  were  well 
known  to  both  Middendorf  and  Langethal,  who, 
while  they  were  students  at  Berlin,  visited  at  her 
home,  and  undoubtedly  they  had  spoken  to  her 
in  praise  of  Froebel,  the  man  of  great  ideas  in 
education.  It  is  probable  that  she,  stimulated  by 
their  description  and  by  a  woman's  curiosity, 
peeped  into  the  museum  one  day  just  to  catch  a 
glimpse  of  the  strange  genius  at  work  in  his 
crystal-world.  But  in  this  look  the  Fates  were 
spinning  her  thread  of  life. 


FEOEBEL  AS  PRINCIPAL.  167 

She  was  the  daughter  of  a  Prussian  Councillor 
of  War  and  had  been  reared  in  comfort,  if  not 
in  luxury.     A  highly  cultivated  woman,  pupil  of 
Fichte  and  Schlciermacher,  she  shared  deeply  in 
the  intellectual  life  of  the  Capital  and  its  Univer- 
sity.    Born  at  Berlin,  Sept.   20th,  1780,  she  was 
now   38  years  old,  no  longer  young,  in  fact  two 
years  older  than  Froebel  himself.    Trying  experi- 
ences of  lifo  she  had  passed  through,  but  had  kept 
her  enthusiasm ;  a  Romanticist  she  was  by  nature 
and  still  more  by  education,  participating  strongly 
in   the    spiritual    movement     of    the   Romantic 
School,  which  made  such  a  stir  at  Berlin  during 
the  early  years  of  the  Nineteenth  Century.     Yet 
her  manner  was  without  all  pretense,  very  amiable, 
without    the    least    appearance    of    the  strong- 
minded,  self -exploiting  blue-stocking,  horror  of 
horrors  to  the  German  man  and  to  some  others 
not  German. 

There  is  no  doubt  that  Froebel  had  a  goo.d 
opinion  of  himself,  but  it  must  have  taken  con- 
siderable nudging  to  bring  him  to  the  point  of 
asking  this  refined  and  high-bred  lady  to  leave 
her  comfortable  home  and  the  elegant  society  of 
a  great  city,  and  to  share  the  primitive  life  at 
Keilhau,  sometimes  sinking  down  to  starvation 
line.  But  Middendorf ,  and,  as  we  think,  Lan- 
gethal  especially,  kept  nudging,  nudging:  she  is 
the  lady  to  preside  over  your  grand  destiny,  and 
that  of  your  school ;  Frau  Christoph  yonder  is  a 


168  THE    LIFE    OF   FEOEBEL. 

good  woman  in  her  way,  excellent  at  the  wash- 
tub  and  house-cleaning,  but  she  has  peasant  man- 
ners and  reads  only  newspapers.  Not  a  suitable 
helpmeet  for  you  and  for  your  future,  my  dear 
friend;  then  how  can  we,  graduates  of  the  Uni- 
versity, stay  here  with  that  woman  giving  tone 
to  our  domestic  life?  Send  the  decisive  letter  at 
once  to  Berlin  or  let  us  send  it  for  you. 

At  any  rate  the  letter  was  sent,  and  the  matter 
was  debated  in  the  family  Hoffmeister ;  the  old 
Councillor  was  inclined  to  veto  the  scheme,  upon 
which  the  daughter  looked  with  favor  from  the 
start.  It  appealed  to  her  romantic  character 
thus  to  flee  from  civilized  life  back  to  nature, 
from  city  to  country,  from  present  to  past,  from 
real  to  ideal,  and  specially  from  the  dreary  prose 
of  to-day  to  the  fair  poetic  world  of  chivalry. 
She  knew  that  gallant  specimen  of  knighthood, 
young  Heinrich  Langethal,  who  had  doubtless 
informed  her  or  a  certain  young  lady  of  her 
household,  concerning  what  was  going  on  at 
Keilhau.  So  the  father  yields,  though  he 
would  gladly  have  kept  his  daughter  to  comfort 
his  old  age,  which  was  now  upon  him.  Accord- 
ingly a  letter  is  sent  to  Frederick  Froebel  which 
in  a  few  weeks  brings  him  from  Keilhau  to 
Berlin,  where  on  the  20th  of  September,  1818, 
her  birthday,  he  weds  Henriette  Wilhelmine 
Klepper,  born  Hoffmeister,  and  after  due  fes- 
tivity, brings  her  home  in  a  kind  of  triumph. 


FBOEBEL  AS  PRINCIPAL.  169 

A  most  daring  stroke  on  the  part  of  Froebel, 
indeed  an  act  of  sublime  audacity  when  we  con- 
sider his  finances,  his  prospects  and  the  man 
himself.  Yet  a  highly  successful  stroke  thus  to 
win  a  fair  lady;  but  not  many  men  will  have  the 
courage  to  imitate  it  in  these  days.  At  any  rate 
the  Keilhau  knights  have  now  a  high-born  lady 
to  preside  in  their  castle,  if  such  may  be  called 
the  rambling  group  of  wooden  buildings,  partly 
unfinished  still,  in  which  is  the  abode  of  the  New 
Idea. 

We  must  also  record  the  fact,  not  without  sig- 
nificance, that  Froebel' s  wife  has  an  adopted 
daughter,  Ernestine  Crispine,  now  grown,  whom 
she  has  brought  with  her  to  Keilhau,  and  who 
will  play  her  part  in  its  drama.  Just  at  present 
we  can  merely  say  that  in  due  time  hereafter  she 
will  be  married  to  knightly  Heinrich  Langethal, 
who  has  often  seen  her  at  Berlin  while  a  student 
there,  and  who  has  been  so  active  in  bringing 
about  her  mother's  removal  to  Keilhau,  well 
knowing  (one  may  conjecture)  that  she  would 
not  b'e  left  behind.  Thus  it  would  appear  that 
Langethal' s  advice  in  this  matter  might  not  have 
been  wholly  disinterested,  and  that  in  his  case 
too  the  Love-God  was  at  work,  though  in  secret, 
weaving  an  invisible  web  of  gossamer  around  two 
hearts  till  they  can  no  longer  tear  away  from 
each  other. 

Let  us  imagine  the  reception  over,  and  the  new 


170  THE    LIFE    OF   FROEBEL. 

mistress  installed  in  her  place  and  setting  things 
to  rights  after  her  own  fashion.  Bless  me,  what 
a  disillusion!  The  boys  find  out  at  once  that 
they  are  no  longer  the  center,  but  all  begins  to 
circle  round  the  new  luminary.  She  has  her 
own  table,  which  is  not  theirs,  and  the  teachers 
assemble  around  her  table  now,  not  theirs,  as 
they  did  before.  "  The  Berlin  aunt  "  is  already 
unpopular,  introducing  her  high-toned  ways  into 
the  youthful  democracy  at  Keilhau.  Then  what 
is  this  we  see  on  a  fair  summer's  day?  Horror 
of  horrors !  A  table  is  brought  out,  and  with 
five  chairs  is  placed  upon  our  turning-ground, 
which  our  own  hands  have  made  with  the  spade 
and  shovel,  and  which  we  have  dedicated  to  gen- 
uine old-German  customs.  Worse  and  worse ! 
Tea  and  coffee,  those  vile,  foreign,  un-German 
decoctions,  are  served  in  broad  daylight,  and 
three  of  the  chairs  are  occupied  by  our  three 
teachers,  who  along  with  the  two  ^Berlin  ladies 
are  drinking  the  very  beverage  which  they  have 
forbidden  to  us  and  repudiated  as  unpatriotic  and 
unhealthy  at  least  a  hundred  times.  A  great 
shock  it  was  to  the  boys;  in  fact  a  con- 
spiracy arose  among  them,  and  a  tablet  was  set 
up  by  them  at  the  entrance  with  the  inscription : 
Our  turning-place  desecrated  by  a  coffee-house. 
It  looks  as  if  they  had  the  best  of  the  argument 
in  this  matter,  and  it  is  said  that  "  the  Berlin 
aunt"  did  not  have  many  such  gatherings  after- 


FEOEBEL   AS  PRINCIPAL.  171 

wards.  Thus  that  darling  amusement  of  the 
German  woman,  the  afternoon  Kaffeeklatsch, 
which  she  loves  next  to  her  husband,  carrying  it 
with  her  around  the  globe  wherever  she  may 
settle,  gets  a  decided  set-back  at  the  hands  of  the 
Keilhau  boys,  the  patriotic  youngsters. 

But  the  school  passes  out  of  its  state  of 
learned  bachelorhood,  and  gets  married  in  the 
person  of  its  principal.  Too  much  of  the  male 
and  the  monk  here  for  the  good  of  the  youth ; 
a  domestic  thread  must  be  woven  into  their  lives 
even  by  education ;  this  masculine  fraternity  of 
men  and  boys  is  one-sided,  let  us  correct  it  by 
transforming  the  whole  school  into  a  family 
with  a  woman  at  the  center  —  a  wife  refined, 
motherly,  devoted  to  the  cause.  The  domestic 
side  of  Keilhau  now  begins,  and  will  continue  to 
unfold  with  the  years. 

The  pinch  of  poverty  is  still  felt  but  the  work 
goes  bravely  on.  More  and  more  does  it  appear, 
however,  that  Froebel  is  a  poor  administrator, 
and,  what  is  worse,  will  take  no  advice.  We 
also  hear  now  of  a  little  disappointment  of  his : 
he  expected  a  marriage  portion,  but  it  never 
came  to  hand.  Also  it  begins  to  be  perceived 
that  the  new  Madam  Froebel  is  not  a  good  man- 
ager for  the  Keilhau  household,  that  is,  she  is  not 
economical.  What  else  indeed  could  be  expected 
from  her  previous  affluent  way  of  living?  Under 
such  circumstances  the  former  thrifty  house- 


172  THE    LIFE    OF    FROEBEL. 

keeper,  Madam  Christoph  Froebel,  rises  to 
memory. 

She  is  yonder  at  Volkstadt,  brooding  over  her 
lot  with  the  sense  of  the  deepest  injury,  recall- 
ing what  she  deems  the  broken  promise  of 
Frederick  Froebel,  and  invoking,  it  may  be 
said,  the  Furies  of  violated  Love  to  avenge 
her  wrong.  Is  she  justified  in  her  impreca- 
tions upon  him  and  all  the  Keilhau  teachers 
along  with  the  hated  Berlin  woman  who  has 
taken  her  place  ?  If  there  be  an  Ethical 
Order  in  this  Universe  —  and  there  is  — 
now  must  the  Unseen  Powers,  its  guardians  and 
defenders,  step  out  into  the  arena  of  this  life 
of  Froebel,  and  henceforth  take  a  hand  in  its 
course,  wreaking  upon  him  and  all  the  partici- 
pants in  this  wrong  done  to  an  innocent  woman, 
the  retribution  of  their  deed.  All  this,  provided 
that  she  is  right  in  thinking  that  the  sacred 
promise  of  Love  had  been  scorned  and  trampled 
underfoot  by  Froebel  and  his  advisers  in  the 
matter  of  his  present  marriage.  Recollect,  we 
say ,  provided  that,  for  we  emphatically  feel  and 
affirm  it  to  be  not  in  our  sphere  to  judge  the  case 
but  simply  to  record  the  judgment  of  the  Unseen 
Justiciary,  when  it  has  uttered  itself  in  the  event. 

Froebel  and  his  friends  appear  before  the 
World's  Tribunal,  declaring  that  he  never  "in 
the  remotest  degree"  had  in  mind  the  meaning 
which  his  deceased  brother's  widow  put  into  his 


FROEBEL   AS  PRINCIPAL.  l7S 

words :  "I  shall  take  the  place  of  father  to  your 
orphaned  children."  Let  the  statement  stand  as 
the  plea  on  his  side ;  but  there  is  another  side 
which  must  now  be  heard  in  the  interest  of  an 
impartial  decision  and  in  explanation  of  many 
occurrences  hereafter.  (24) 

IV. 

The  Froebel  Boys  and  their  Mother. 

In  the  Keilhau  school  were  five  boys  by  the 
name  of  Froebel.  Two  were  sons  of  Christian 
Froebel,  and,  though  educated  by  their  uncle, 
were  of  small  importance  in  his  career ;  so  they 
may  be  at  once  dismissed.  Far  greater  was  the 
influence  of  the  three  sons  of  Christoph  Froebel 
upon  their  uncle's  life;  they  stream  into  it  dur- 
ing its  entire  course  to  the  very  last,  even  until 
his  death,  in  which  one  of  them  may  be  said  to 
have  been  remotely  involved,  though  not,  of 
course,  guiltily.  Two  of  these  sons,  Julius  and 
Carl,  became  famous  writers,  and  both  have 
told  their  story  of  early  Keilhau.  Particularly 
has  Julius  Froebel,  in  his  Autobiography  called  by 
him  Ein  Lebemlauf,  given  a  full  account  of  his 
mother  and  his  uncle  at  Keilhau  and  elsewhere. 
These  sons  of  Christoph  Froebel,  being  of  such 
importance,  we  shall  designate  specially  as  the 
Froebel  boys. 


174  THE    LIFE    OF   FItOEBEL. 

The  picture  of  the  mother  which  Julius  Froe- 
bel  gives  us  permits  us  to  see  the  general  out- 
lines of  her  character.  He  calls  her  a  decided 
realist;  she  loved  disputation,  was  fond  of  poli- 
tics, and  was  a  zealous  reader  of  newspapers  till 
her  eightieth  year,  the  time  of  her  death.  In 
religion  she  was  a  rationalist,  as  was  her  husband, 
and  had  many  a  discussion  with  her  father,  who 
was  a  pietist.  She  would  chat  with  the  peas- 
ants, and  evidently  felt  herself  at  home  among 
them ;  she  leaned  toward  democracy  and  its 
equalizing  tendency  which  sprang  of  the  French 
Revolution.  She  had  a  strong  will  which  often 

o 

led  her  into  acts  of  tyranny  in  the  family.  With 
her  imperious  temper  was  coupled  a  bony,  robust, 
rather  tall  body,  capable  of  any  amount  of  work 
and  of  privation.  Her  son  declares  that  one  of 
her  marked  traits  was  a  pedantic  cleanliness,  for 
which  she  required  the  water  of  the  entire  river 
Ilm,  which  fortunately  flowed  before  her  door. 
He  must  have  remembered  her  remorseless  scrub- 
bing of  him  when  a  boy,  and  there  was  needed 
all  her  fierce  washing-power  to  keep  things  clean 
in  that  school  of  muddy  shoes.  A  strong  but  rude 
character  she  shows,  strong  in  will,  in  tongue,  in 
muscle ;  curious  for  what  is  new  and  enthusiastic 
for  reform  and  devoted  to  liberty,  provided  that 
it  did  not  interfere  with  her  authority. 

Such  a  realistic  woman,  as  the  center  of  the 
school  home,  was  not  relished  by  those  University 


FEOEBEL   AS  PRINCIPAL.  175 

men  who  were  to  be  the  future  instructors.  Par- 
ticularly Langethal  must  have  felt  the  discord 
with  his  ideal  romantic  tendency.  Such  was  the 
inner  conflict  fermenting  in  Keilhau  during  the 
scholastic  year  of  1817-8,  and  ending  in  the 
marriage  of  Froebel  to  a  woman  of  quite  the  op- 
posite character. 

When  he  comes  to  mention  his  mother's  depart- 
ure from  Keilhau,  Julius  Froebel  very  naturally 
does  not  give  the  reason  assigned  by  his  uncle's 
friends.  He  could  not  speak  of  his  mother's 
disappointed  love,  but  he  brings  forward  other 
grounds  for  the  step,  attributing  it  to  his  uncle's 
bad  management  and  blind  self-confidence  which 
refused  all  advice.  The  climax  was  reached  when 
the  latter  sent  the  seed-corn  to  the  mill  to  be 
ground  into  flour  for  bread  which  was  needed 
for  the  school.  Then,  says  Julius,  the  widow 
foreseeing  economic  ruin  called  a  halt,  sold  out, 
and  quit  the  school,  for  which  she  had  originally 
bought  the  place  and  endured  so  many  privations. 
All  this  may  have  been  true,  but  the  other  reason 
was  also  true,  and  indeed  the  real  reason.  Still 
the  widow  took  Frederick  Froebel' s  promises  to 
pay,  though  he  had  already  broken  another  and 
deeper  promise.  But  even  these  promises  to  pay 
were  remorsely  disregarded,  and  their  failure  re- 
duced her  and  her  daughter  to  absolute  penury, 
to  great  suffering,  and  finally  to  the  verge  of 
starvation. 


176  THE   LIFE    Of  FROE3EL. 

On  this  point  .Julius  Froebel  bears  witness 
from  what  he  saw  and  knew  personally.  We 
shall  translate  directly  from  his  narrative :  « «  Vis- 
iting my  mother  at  Volkstadt  during  the  severe 
cold  of  winter,  I  found  her  lying  very  ill  of  a 
fever,  without  money  and  without  fuel,  in  a 
small  room  of  a  peasant's  hut.  When  I  returned 
to  Keilhau,  I  asked  my  uncle  Frederick  Froebel 
to  pay  some  of  the  debt  due  my  mother,  but 
with  hard  words  he  refused  the  payment.  Hith- 
erto I  had  been  in  a  kind  of  conflict  between  my 
love  for  my  mother  and  my  veneration  for  my 
uncle  and  teacher.  But  now  I  began  to  hate  the 
man,  and  it  was  natural  for  me  to  think  of  leav- 
ing Keilhau.  My  two  brothers  and  myself  made 
during  those  winter  evenings  some  toys  which  we 
sold  to  our  wealthier  fellow-pupils;  our  sister 
earned  a  few  dollars  with  her  needle ;  thus  by 
selling  the  products  of  our  small  industry  we 
succeeded  in  meeting  the  immediate  wants  of  our 
mother's  household."  (See  Ein  Lebenslauf 'I. 
s.  38.) 

Such  is  the  arraignment  of  Frederick  Froebel 
by  his  own  nephew,  citing  him  in  printed  accusa- 
tion before  the  Tribunal  of  the  Ages,  which  has 
at  last  to  render  decision.  Both  the  accused  and 
the  accuser  have  passed  beyond  to  their  own  final 
account  over  the  border,  but  in  a  kind  of  spectral 
attitude  they  still  tarry  here  before  us,  glaring 
at  each  other  with  all  the  venom  of  a  blood-feud 


FEOEBEL   AS   PEINCIPAL.  Ill 

among  kindred.  So  we  have  to  call  up  these 
hostile  ghosts  just  here  in  the  course  of  this  biog- 
raphy and  meet  them  and  look  into  their  faces, 
for  we  cannot  turn  aside  from  them  in  duty  to 
our  theme. 

As  already  said,  Froebel  and  his  friends  de- 
clare that  the  widow  had  no  right  to  think  of 
marriage  when  he  told  her  that  he  would  be  a 
father  to  her  orphaned  children.  Let  it  be 
granted  that  she  was  too  ready  to  see  a  deeper 
meaning  in  Froebel' s  words  than  their  author 
intended.  But  did  he  not  know  that  she  thus 
interpreted  him?  Could  he  have  remained  two 
years  in  intimate  daily  intercourse  with  her  and 
not  have  perceived  that?  And  perceiving  it, 
ought  he  not  in  justice  to  have  disabused  her 
mind,  if  he  intended  no  such  thing  from  the 
start?  Such  are  the  questions  that  will  come 
before  the  Tribunal  in  seeking  to  adjudicate  this 
matter  according  to  the  law  of  eternal  right. 

In  fact  a  still  deeper  question  rises  at  this 
point.  If  Froebel  from  the  start  never  intended 
any  such  relation,  but  let  her  be  deceived,  play- 
ing on  her  feelings  and  her  enthusiasm  for  his 
cause,  and  using  her  property  as  if  it  were  his 
own,  through  her  infatuation,  then  shall  we  not 
have  to  say  that  his  conduct  is  of  a  still  darker 
dye?  Bather  let  us  believe  that  he  intended 
quite  what  she  did  in  the  beginning;  certainly 
we  cannot  think  him  to  have  intended  just  the 

12 


178  THE    LIFE    OF    FROEBEL. 

opposite  and  have  deceived  her  so  long  in  cold 
deliberation.  Such  a  view  we  shall  throw  out  of 
court  on  the  spot.  But  we  may  consider  that 
he  was  persuaded  by  Middendorf  and  specially 
by  Langethal  that  he  could  never  realize  that 
Idea  of  his  with  such  a  wife  or  perchance  such 
a  woman,  in  his  educational  home. 

Herewith  we  reach  down  to  Froebel's  deepest 
principle  of  action :  he  was  possessed  with  an 
Idea,  which  pulsed  through  every  throb  of  his 
heart,  and  which  determined  every  deed  of  his, 
yea,  every  motive  and  feeling.  To  the  Idea  he 
stood  ready  to  sacrifice  all  human  relations,  even 
the  tenderest,  even  Love  itself.  At  one  fling  he 
could  toss  his  own  kindred  to  be  devoured  by 
his  Idea,  beginning  with  himself.  This  on  one 
side  makes  him  the  Hero,  but  on  the  other  side 
brings  down  upon  him  the  tragic  penalty  of  be- 
ing a  Hero.  For  these  human  relations,  too, 
have  their  validity,  aye,  their  right  in  this  world, 
and  so  their  violation  will  not  fail  to  call  up  the 
avenger,  who  will  scourge  their  violator  and  hunt 
him  into  the  very  dust  in  return  for  his  deed, 
even  though  this  be  done  in  the  pursuit  of  a  lofty 
ideal. 

But  again  we  must  strongly  affirm  that  we  are 
not  the  judge  of  Frederick  Froebel;  to  hold  court 
over  him  lies  not  in  the  sphere  of  our  jurisdiction. 
Not  to  judge,  but  to  record  judgment  when  it  has 
been  delivered  in  the  events  of  life  is  our  impar- 


FROEBEL  AS  PRINCIPAL.  179 

tial  biographic  function.  And  we  must  wait  and 
see  what  events  the  Powers,  by  way  of  discipline 
and  penalty,  will  interweave  into  this  career  of 
Froebel,  before  the  real  meaning  of  his  deed  and 
of  his  character  will  move  into  the  light  of  day. 

Still  in  taking  a  review  of  the  case  up  to  the 
present,  so  much  may  be  stated :  when  we  hear 
Julius  Froebel  utter  those  words  with  a  glow  of 
vengeful  intensity  which  still  burns  the  eye  that 
reads,  I  began  to  hate  him,  in  a  passage  which  he 
revised  and  printed,  if  he  did  not  write,  full  sev- 
enty years  after  the  occurrence  which  it  describes, 
he  being  at  that  time  eighty -four  years  old,  and 
all  the  parties  concerned  having  been  laid  long 
since  in  their  graves  —  then  we  know  the  Furies 
of  Hate  to  have  been  born  in  the  hearts  of  these 
Froebel  boys,  taking  up  the  cause  of  their  in- 
jured mother  and  vowing  eternal  revenge  upon 
their  uncle,  who  in  his  turn  will  charge  them 
with  ingratitude,  with  betraying  his  cause  to  his 
enemies  and  spreading  their  insidious  lies,  to  the 
ruin  of  his  school  at  Keilhau. 

Unquestionably  the  Furies  of  the  Family  are 
now  born,  born  of  the  deed  of  the  uncle,  and 
will  plaj  their  part,  often  hidden  till  it  bursts  into 
sudden  consuming  fire,  in  the  coming  history. 
Born  they  are,  and  now  are  at  work,  and  will  not 
stop  working  while  a  spark  of  life  lasts  in  a  sin- 
gle heart  of  these  participants.  (25) 


180  THU    LIFE    OF    F  ROE  BEL. 

V. 

The  Froebel  Girls  and  Their  Father. 

After  the  marriage  of  Froebel,  the  economical 
side  of  the  school  did  not  improve  —  how  could 
it?  The  revenues  were  not  large,  the  financial 
administration  of  both  husband  and  wife  was 
wasteful,  at  least  not  adjusted  to  the  income,  and 
even  the  old  specter  Hunger  at  times  showed  his 
face  threateningly  in  the  distance.  But  the  in- 
struction went  forward  with  success,  the  teachers 
were  devoted  to  the  Idea,  and  heavenly  Hope  took 
the  greatest  delight  in  encircling  with  her  rain- 
bows the  gaunt  figure  and  pinched  features  of 
pallid  Poverty. 

Still  the  crisis  could  not  be  put  off  forever.  It 
seemed  on  the  point  of  culminating  when  a  cer- 
tain important  lease  expired  in  the  year  1820,  and 
Froebel  w^as  in  danger  of  being  turned  out  of 
doors.  But  here  again  Providence,  his  great 
ally,  came  to  his  assistance  just  at  the  decisive 
moment.  His  brother  Christian  Froebel,  a  pros- 
perous manufacturer  living  at  Osterode  in  the 
Harz,  who  has  two  boys  at  the  school  resolves  to 
move  his  whole  family  to  Keilhau,  and  to  devote 
himself  and  his  fortune  to  furthering  Frederick's 
enterprise.  He  has  wealth,  has  business  experi- 
ence, and  has  a  wife  who  is  an  excellent  house- 
hold manager ;  surely  they  are  just  the  people 
most  needed  now  at  Keilhau. 


FROEBEL  AS  PRINCIPAL.  181 

But  the  chief  fact  in  this  occurrence  is  that 
Christian  Froebel  has  three  daughters,  two  of 
them  young  ladies,  who  now  (1820)  enter  the 
Keilhau  circle.  Not  however  as  pupils;  their 
education  is  apparently  not  thought  of  in  this 
all-absorbing  boys'-school.  Not  one  word  about 
the  training  of  girls  in  this  new  educational 
•scheme,  though  Froebel  has  four  nieces,  sisters 
of  the  five  nephews,  and  also  human  souls :  three 
are  these  daughters  of  Christian,  and  one  the 
daughter  of  Christoph.  In  the  most  striking 
manner  they  are  simply  left  out  of  the  account. 
But  later  in  life  Froebel  will  change,  he  will 
recognize  the  place  of  woman  in  education  above 
all  other  men  of  his  time,  especially  in  the  edu- 
cation of  the  child ;  young  ladies  like  these  nieces 
of  his  he  will  train  to  a  new  vocation,  that  of 
kindergardners,  who  will  become  the  great  prom- 
ulgators  and  apostles  of  his  Idea.  But  no  hint 
of  any  such  thought  is  in  his  head  now. 

Still  these  three  Froebel  girls,  daughters  of 
Christian,  will  hold  their  own  in  the  home,  and 
will  make  themselves  a  most  important  factor  in 
Froebel' s  career,  and  in  the  future  history  of 
Keilhau.  The  other  niece,  daughter  of  Chris- 
toph, goes  with  her  mother  to  Yolkstadt  and 
vanishes  out  of  the  sight  of  this  biography. 

The  three  Froebel  girls,  therefore,  are -the  sis- 
ters who  come  with  father  and  mother  from 
Osterode  and  settle  at  Keilhau  in  the  year  1820. 


182  THE    LIFE    OF   FROEBEL. 

Two  of  them  are'  young  ladies,  Albertine,  aged 
nineteen,  andEmilie,  aged  sixteen;  then  there  is 
little  Elise,  six  years  old.  These  are  the  women, 
who  with  their  mother  will  in  time  form  the 
domestic  foundation  of  Keilhau,  its  bed-rock, 
which  will  outlast  Froebel  himself,  and  which  he 
will  not  be  able  to  overturn  or  shake  asunder  in 
all  the  ups  and  downs  of  his  volcanic  tossings, 
though  he  will  give  it  many  a  wrench. 

Now  these  two  young  ladies  had,  before  1820, 
become  extremely  interested  in  Keilhau,  had  heard 
much  from  their  brothers,  when  the  latter  would 
come  home  on  a  visit  during  the  holidays,  about 
the  instructors,  those  splendid  young  men  from 
the  University.  In  fact  it  is  recorded  that  one 
of  these  young  ladies  came  in  person  to  Keilhau 
to  see  her  brothers  and  cousins,  and  to  be  present 
at  the  happy  Christmas  festivities,  so  grandly 
celebrated  by  pupils  and  teachers.  And  it  stands 
to  reason  that  both  the  young  ladies  should  pay 
more  than  one  visit  to  Keilhau  during  the  two 
years  preceding  1820,  and  have  a  pleasant  time 
with  brothers  and  cousins  and  uncle  and  aunt, 
and  take  a  curious  glance  at  those  wonderful  in- 
structors, highly  educated  young  men  from  Ber- 
lin University,  the  handsome  Middendorf  and  the 
knightly  Langethal. 

And  in  order  that  we  may  catch  up  all  the 
threads  of  Fate,  near  and  remote,  which  the  Love- 
God  is  spinning  in  these  days,  we  should  note 


FROEBEL   AS  PRINCIPAL.  183 

that  the  little  companion  of  Elise  Froebel  at 
Osterode  is  a  little  girl  five  years  old  by  the  name 
of  Louise  Levin,  who  many  years  after  this  time 
will  weave  herself  into  Froebel' s  life  in  the  most 
marvelous  manner,  dipping  him  afresh  in  the 
fountain  of  Love  when  an  old  man,  and  thereby 
renewing  and  rejuvenating  him  for  the  last  great 
creative  period  of  his  career.  This  little  girl  has 
already  received  from  her  play-mate  wonderful 
pretty  trinkets  made  by  the  boys  at  Keilhau,  and 
has  often  heard  the  name  of  Frederick  Froebel, 
the  great  man  there,  who  has  become  to  her 
child-soul  a  kind  of  far-off  divine  ideal,  which 
she  will  nourish  solitary  in  her  heart  for  a  quarter 
of  a  century ,  till  she  too  one  day  passes  from 
Osterode  to  Keilhau  — in  1845  it  was  —  and  be- 
holds the  incarnation  of  her  dreams.  And 
then  —  but  the  rest  of  the  story  must  be  told 
later,  in  its  proper  place. 

So  it  appears,  when  the  institute  at  Keilhau 
was  in  the  gravest  financial  distress,  buildings 
unfinished,  debts  unpaid,  lease  expiring,  that  all 
these  troubles,  the  dark  side  of  the  idyllic  pic- 
ture, were  brought  to  brother  Christian  at  Oster- 
ode, who  thereupon  made  up  his  mind  to  quit 
business  and  to  devote  himself  to  the  new  Idea. 
An  heroic  act,  most  unusual  for  a  hard-headed 
man  of  affairs,  such  as  he  was ;  but  having  taken 
the  resolution,  he  remained  steadfast  to  the 
cause  till  his  dying  day  in  spite  of  many  dis- 


184  THE    LIFE    OF   FROEBEL. 

couragements.  The  Baroness  von  Marenholtz- 
Bulow,  when  she  visited  Keilhau  a  generation 
later  (in  1853),  found  him  still  alive  and  at 
work  upon  a  household  task,  though  over 
eighty  years  old. 

The  young  ladies,  the  daughters,  seconded 
the  plan  with  all  their  hearts  —  so,  at  least,  we 
have  the  right  to  imagine;  in  fact,  they  had 
already  besieged  Papa  to  move  to  Keilhau,  in 
all  probability,  not  for  the  purpose  of  getting 
an  education,  but  with  another  design,  carefully 
concealed,  yet  dear  to  the  heart  of  the  German 
girl,  and  other  girls.  And  wonderful  will  be 
their  success,  as  the  following  record  shows. 
Albertine,  the  eldest,  will  win  "Wilhelm  Miclden- 
dorf ,  on  the  whole  the  most  desirable  man  of 
the  lot;  Emilie  will  marry  Barop,  the  talented 
successor  of  Froebel  as  principal  at  Keilhau. 
Elise,  the  youngest,  after  the  failure  of  her  first 
engagement  with  Robert  Kohl,  the  musical 
theologian,  will  finally  wed  Dr.  Siegfried  Schaff- 
ner,  also  an  instructor  at  Keilhau,  as  late  as  1850. 
Well  done  for  the  Froebel  girls !  one  has  to  ex- 
claim in  admiration,  overcanopying  for  so  many 
years  that  school  with  a  domestic  heaven. 

Accordingly,  Christian  Froebel  with  his  family 
settles  in  his  new  home  and  begins  operations  in 
the  year  1820.  At  once  the  debts  are  paid,  the 
unfinished  buildings  are  completed,  and  the  finan- 
cial strain  generally  is  brought  to  an  end.  But 


FEOEBEL  AS  PRINCIPAL.  185 

the  chief  change  is  that  the  domestic  element  is 
strengthened  enormously  by  the  advent  of  the  new 
family,  in  fact,  the  permanent  foundation  of  the 
school-home  is  now  laid  for  the  first  time,  by  a 
total  family  consisting  of  father  and  mother,  sons 
and  daughters. 

Still  there  will  be  one  disappointment ;  Chris- 
tian Froebel  soon  finds  that  he  has  made  one 
mistake  in  his  unselfishness.  He  has  unre- 
servedly given  his  wealth  into  the  hands  of  his 
brother  Frederick,  and  has  retained  for  himself 
no  administrative  control  even  of  the  property 
which  his  own  money  has  bought,  thinking  ap- 
parently to  assist  his  brother  by  his  advice  alone. 
But  he  soon  discovers  that  brother  Frederick 
will  listen  to  no  advice  and  resents  any  sugges- 
tion as  an  offense  to  his  authority,  or  an  insult 
to  his  capacity.  On  this  side  of  his  character 
he  is  developing  a  blind  self-confidence  little 
short  of  a  belief  in  his  own  infallibility.  He  is 
fast  reaching  that  state  of  mind  which  the  ancient 
Greeks  called  insolence  toward  the  Gods,  and 
which  an  avenging  Nemesis  leveled  sooner  or 
later  to  the  earth.  Even  those  who  most  firmly 
believed  in  the  greatness  of  his  Idea,  saw  the 
folly  of  his  administration  and  presaged  a  day  of 
reckoning. 

But  the  time  of  prosperity  had  set  in,  the 
school  kept  increasing  its  attendance  from  year 
to  year,  the  revenue  was  enough  to  pay  all  ob- 


186  THE    LIFE    OF   FROEBEL. 

ligations.  In  1821  the  number  of  pupils  rose  to 
twenty,  which  called  for  new  buildings.  The 
next  year  fourteen  were  added,  and  in  1824  six- 
teen more  came,  and  in  the  two  following  years 
the  number  reached  sixty  which  was  the  high- 
est point.  So  we  have  now  before  us  Keilhau 
in  its  bloom,  which  we  shall  look  at  more  fully. 
(26) 

VI. 

The  Rise  of  Keilhau. 

With  the  coming  of  Christian  Froebel  and 
family,  fortune  smiles  on  Keilhau  for  six  years 
(1820-6).  The  school*  has  passed  from  being 
purely  a  male  affair,  a  brotherhood  of  teachers 
and  pupils,  to  being  a  family,  or  a  union  of  fam- 
ilies, which  is  now  the  domestic  substrate  of  the 
school.  We  may  call  it  on  this  side  the  transi- 
tion from  monastic  to  domestic  Keilhau.  Thus 
the  Family  has  become  the  emphatic  institution 
in  the  school ;  of  the  other  social  institutions  of 
man,  the  Church  is  present,  but  certainly  not 
prominent ;  the  Economic  Order  lies  in  the  dis- 
tance ;  the  State  as  then  established  hardly  exists 
for  the  Keilhau  community,  or  is  scouted  more 
than  acknowledged. 

This  brings  us  to  the  great  social  fact  which 
gave  origin  to  the  school.  It  sprang  from  a 
mighty  spiritual  movement  of  the  time,  which 
had  many  other  manifestations,  one  of  which 


FROEBEL  AS  PRINCIPAL.  187 

was  Romanticism. .  Already  we  have  repeatedly 
connected  Keilhau,  its  founders  and  its  teachers, 
with  the  Romantic  movement  of  Germany,  whose 
essence  was  a  turning  back  of  culture  to  its 
fountain  heads  in  former  ages  on  account  of  a 
deep  dissatisfaction  with  the  present.  We  might 
name  it  in  general,  a  flight  from  the  Real  to  the 
Ideal.  This  is  the  deepest  dualism  of  the  Teu- 
tonic soul ;  the  actual  world  is  such  a  miserable 
slough  of  despond,  that  the  German  flees  from 
it  and  lives  in  an  inner  world  of  his  own  making. 
Hence  he  is  supremely  the  idealist  of  Europe  or 
has  been  so,  turning  to  thought  and  speculation, 
while  the  Anglo-Saxon  turns  to  will  and  realiza- 
tion. 

Keilhau  was,  then,  in  many  respects  a  flight. 
First  of  all  it  was  a  flight  back  to  nature  ©ut  of 
the  complex  life  of  civilization,  a  flight  from  city 
to  country.  Hence  the  prodigious  stress  upon 
living  in  harmony  with  nature,  hence  the  rambles 
over  the  mountains,  through  wide  stretches  of 
country,  the  pupils  often  avoiding  a  city  like  a 
place  of  pestilence.  Once  a  crowd  of  Keilhau 
boys,  led  by  their  teacher,  went  around  Dresden. 
Likewise  a  flight  from  luxury  to  primitive  sim- 
plicity. The  diet  was  most  frugal,  a  return 
almost  to  the  acorn  of  the  old  Teutonic  forest. 
The  dress  discarded  all  modern  fashion  and  even 
comfort:  light  flaxen  garments,  the  Turner's 
uniform,  the  boys  wore  summer  and  winter;  no 


188  THE    LIFE    OF   FROEBEL. 

neck-tie,  shirts  with  a  turn-over  collar ;  long  hair 
and  often  bare-headed ;  they  sought  to  return  to 
old-German  costume.  They  would  not  use  the 
modern  names,  if  they  had  even  a  remote  foreign 
origin;  Latin  Onkel  (uncle,  .avunculus)  was 
tabooed  and  German  Oheim,  took  its  place. 
Names  of  places  and  mountains  in  the  neighbor- 
hood were  re-baptized,  so  that  the  native  peas- 
ant could  not  tell  what  the  boys  were  talking 
about.  But  when  the  name  of  the  peasant  him- 
self was  altered  (for  instance  neighbor  Hdnold 
into  Hainlwld),  the  man  protested  with  vigor. 
All,  however,  was  to  be  reconstructed  after  the 
ideal  pattern.  Chiefly,  however,  there  was  the 
flight  to  the  age  of  chivalry  and  its  romance,  its 
castles  and  tournaments  and  its  weapons ;  partic- 
ularly its  spirit  was  cultivated,  as  has  been  already 
set  forth.  This  was  more  the  trend  of  Langethal ; 
Froebel  himself  had  more  of  the  flight  to  nature, 
and  also  to  the  Teutonic  folk-spirit,  wherein 
Middendorf  seems  to  have  coincided  with  him. 

Thus  Romanticism  has  found  its  educator,  who 
is  seeking  to  realize  its  principle  in  a  system  of 
instruction,  and  to  impart  it  to  the  rising  genera- 
tion. But  let  his  advance  be  duly  noted:  he  is 
not  simply  dreaming  the  dream  of  Romanticism, 
he  is  realizing  its  idea,  and  thus  is  going  beyond 
its  dualism,  making  the  Ideal  a  reality.  He  is 
training  the  will  here  as  in  other  respects,  and  so 
has  started  to  bridge  the  grand  Teutonic  chasm. 


FEOEBEL   AS  PRINCIPAL.  189 

Just  at  this  point  we  may  see  his  advance  upon 
Pestalozzi,  whose  great  educative  instrumentality 
is  the  object-lesson  (Anschaung)  internalizing 
the  thing  of  sense.  But  Froebel  adds  the  exter- 
nalizing act,  the  creating  the  thing  in  order  to 
master  it ;  hence  he  will  train  the  will  through 
education,  while  Pestalozzi  emphasizes  the  train- 
ing of  the  intellect  through  the  senses.  So  it 
comes  that  Pestalozzi  is  a  German  in  his  educa- 
tional work  and  is  cherished  specially  by  the 
Germans,  the  people  of  the  intellect.  On  the  other 
hand  Froebel-,  jbhough  a  German,  has  never  been 
adopted  by  the  German  pedagogical  world,  but 
by  the  Anglo-Saxons,  the  will-people,  whose  edu- 
cational prophet  he  seems  destined  to  become. 

Hence,  Keilhau  is  epoch-making  in  the  history 
of  education.  As  to  Froebel,  it  was  his  training 
for  the  kindergarden,  in  which  the  will  element 
comes  out  more  strongly.  But  the  school's  very 
merit  produced  a  corresponding  defect ;  the  ma- 
terial of  knowledge,  though  not  neglected,  fell 
behind,  and  the  complaint  was  often  heard  that 
the  boys  did  not  learn  anything  at  Keilhau. 
And  what  they  did  learn  did  not  fit  into  any  pre- 
existent  educational  scheme;  if  they  went  to 
another  school ,%they  could  not  enter  the  corre- 
sponding class,  for  there  was  nothing  to  corre- 
spond with  the  Keilhau  procedure. 

As  Froebel  was  a  man  of  will  in  training  wills, 
this  procedure  or  curriculum  (  Gang  it  was  called) 


190  THE    LIFE    OF   FEOEBEL. 

became  as  fixed  as  a  coat  of  stone,  unyielding  as 
iron.  He  fell  into  a  faith  in  his  own  pedagogical 
infallibility ;  if  the  boys  played  far  more  than  in 
any  other  school,  it  was  always  within  the  stone 
wall  of  the  method  (Gang).  Hence  also  arose 
the  complaint  that  even  along  with  this  cast-iron 
method  or  course  of  study,  there  was  a  lack  of 
order.  It  is  also  affirmed  thatFroebel  was  prac- 
tically not  a  good  teacher,  because  he  wandered 
too  far  from  the  lesson,  which,  however,  was 
rigidly  fixed  in  the  course  of  study.  Some  truth 
we  may  well  see  in  these  statements.  Still  Keil- 
hau  in  spite  of  its  defects,  possibly  by  virtue  of 
them,  was  an  epoch-making  pedagogical  effort. 

In  the  school  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  there 
was  a  strong  current  of  reaction  against  existent 
authority.  Why  should  there  not  be,  Keilhau 
being  a  flight  from  the  present  with  its  estab- 
lished order?  The  boys  on  their  trips  sang 
songs  of  freedom,  war-songs  of  the  War  of  Lib- 
eration (1815),  and  did  not  spare  satire  against 
the  crowned  heads  of  Germany.  Julius  Froebel, 
who  was  there  as  a  pupil,  calls  Keilhau  a  breed- 
ing nest  (Brutnesi)  of  revolution,  and  became  a 
socialist  himself.  The  Kudolstadt  government 
seems  not  to  have  disturbed  them  at  home,  but 
when  they  crossed  the  frontier*  they  often  had 
little  skirmishes,  of  course  never  going  beyond 
words,  with  the  police  of  other  countries.  (27) 

It  is  curious  what  hostility  the  long  hair  of  the 


FEOEBEL   AS  PRINCIPAL.       .  191 

boys  excited.  Yet  we  must  recollect  that  this 
had  become  a  badge  of  protest  if  not  of  revolu- 
tion; all  the  socialists,  reformers,  world-remodel- 
ers  wore  their  hair  long  at  this  time.  And  the 
same  peculiarity  is  still  observable  in  our  own 
country.  The  new  Idea  getting  into  the  head  of 
the  man  seems  to  desire  to  cover  itself  over  and 
over  with  layers  of  capillary  growth ;  while  the 
same  Idea  getting  into  the  head  of  the  woman 
wishes  to  free  itself  of  those  superabundant 
locks  which  are  usually  considered  the  chief  or- 
nament of  the  sex.  The  long-haired  men  and 
the  short-haired  women  have  become  proverbial 
in  America  to  designate  the  considerable  band  of 
radical  reformers.  Will  any  naturalist  explain 
the  ground  of  this  difference  in  the  way  the  Idea 
clothes  itself  in  the  heads  of  the  two  sexes? 

It  is  recorded  that  when  on  one  of  their  foot- 
trips  a  body  of  Keilhau  pupils  were  about  to  cross 
over  the  Bohemian  frontier,  an  Austrian  officer 
stopped  them  and  forbade  their  proceeding  fur- 
ther unless  they  cut  their  hair.  And  when  a  wild 
band  of  Froebel's  lads  were  passing  through  the 
cathedral  square  at  Erfurt  with  their  old  German 
costume  and  streaming  locks,  a  Prussian  sub- 
altern caught  one  of  them  by  the  shock  of  the 
hair,  and  addressed  him  insultingly:  "  Cut  your 
hair,  boy;  pfui!  it  looks  bad." 

The  Prince  of  Sahwarzburg-Rudolstadt,  in 
whose  government  Keilhau  is  situated,  was  in- 


192  THE    LIFE    OF   FEOEBEL. 

clined  to  protect  the  school,  but  he  had  at  last  to 
yield  to  representations  of  other  German  Powers, 
especially  of  Prussia,  and  order  an  investigation. 
He  sent  his  inspector  of  schools,  Dr.  Christian 
Zeh,  who  reached  Keilhau  November  23d,  1824, 
and  spent  two  days  in  carefully  examining  the 
work.  The  result  was  the  most  favorable  notice 
that  Keilhau  ever  received,  as  Dr.  Zeh's  report 
sparkles  at  every  point  with  praise  and  enthusi- 
asm. The  kind-hearted,  yet  keen-eyed  inspector 
notices,  first  of  all,  the  domestic  foundation,  sixty 
people  constituting  really  one  family,  and  making 
all  its  members,  young  and  old,  teachers  and 
pupils,  a  vast  school-home.  Then  he  recognizes 
and  lauds  the  principle  of  self -activity,  so  strik- 
ingly dominant  in  the  instruction,  —  also  he 
notices  the  various  branches  in  brief  review.  In 
the  document  is  the  completest  recognition  that 
Froebel  ever  had,  and  must  have  been  a  kind  of 
boomerang  to  the  hostile  Powers  that  had  in- 
sisted on  the  investigation.  Prince  Giinther  of 
Rudolstadt  could  now  confront-  them  with  this 
official  report,  and  he  left  the  school  undisturbed 
as  far  as  instruction  was  concerned. 

Still  he  was  one  of  the  lesser  potentates  of 
Germany  at  that  time,  and  he  had  to  do  some- 
thing to  appease  his  big  brothers.  So  he  flings 
the  very  smallest  tub  he  can  find  to  the  angry 
whale.  The  decree  goes-  forth  that  the  boys 
should  cut  their  hair  and  get  new  coats,  and  so 


UNIVERSITY 


FROEBEL  AS  PRINCIPAL.  193 

look  like  other  people.  But  think  for  a  moment 
ere  he  passes,  of  generous  Christian  Zeh  with 
his  kind  word  for  Froebel!  Long  will  he  be 
remembered  for  that,  when  everything  else  he 
did  has  quite  vanished.  Just  that  one  coura- 
geous act  of  recognizing  the  worth  of  a  perse- 
cuted man  will  buoy  his  name  up  from  sinking 
into  the  sea  of  oblivion,  and  the  Prince  of 
Eudolstadt  has  apparently  done  the  most  famous 
deed  of  his  reign,  all  unconscious  of  what  Time 
has  in  store  for  him. 

So  the  Keilhau  boys  had  to  be  shorn  like  a 
flock  of  lambs  at  a  sheep-shearing.  A  grand 
hair-cutting  bee  we  can  imagine  to  have  taken 
place  at  the  school,  with  games  and  music  and 
festivities.  But  it  would  seem  that  the  old  bell- 
wethers, Froebel  and  Middendorf  ,  did  not  submit 
to  have  their  locks  taken  off,  or  let  them  grow 
again  to  full  length.  For  in  a  year  or  so  after- 
wards they  appear  at  Gottingen  with  their  long 
hair,  exciting  no  small  curiosity  and  making 
themselves  the  observed  of  all  observers  in  the 
streets  of  that  University  town. 

And  yet  woe  to  Keilhau  having  lost  its  long 
hair,  fabled  of  old  to  be  the  seat  of  man's  ele- 
mental energy-!  Like  strong  Samson,  who  be- 
came weak  as  other  men  when  his  massive  locks 
were  shorn,  Keilhau  after  this  sudden  decapil- 
lation  (almost  amounting  to  decapitation)  will 
sink  and  swoon  away  in  utter  pitiable  debility, 

13 


194  THE    LIFE    OF   FROEBKL. 

equal  to  that  of  its  Hebrew  prototype,  unable  to 
face  the  swarming  host  of  Philistines,  who  mock 
and  trample  upon  the  fallen  Hero. 

Let  it,  however,  be  noted  that  Doctor  Zeh's 
report  delivered  to  the  government  in  May,  1825, 
did  not  tell  all  that  was  going  on  in  Keilhau,  at  that 
time  indeed  all  could  not  be  seen  on  the  surface. 
But  there  were  inner  forces  at  work  of  a  strongly 
negative  power  which  were  assailing  and  disor- 
ganizing the  school.  Of  this  destroying  energy, 
running  quite  parallel  with  the  rise  of  Keilhau, 
some  account  must  next  be  given. 

VII. 

• 

The  Negative  Element. 

Froebel's  success  being  continued  for  six  years, 
with  absolute  authority  in  his  own  circle,  devel- 
oped his  self -confidence  to  the  border  of  fatuity. 
His  brother  Christian  gave  up  the  attempt  to 
exercise  any  influence  over  him  in  business  affairs. 
In  the  matter  of  his  school  method,  the  belief  in 
its  infallibility  grew  upon  him,  and  he  could 
brook  no  suggestion  for  its  improvement.  He 
could  not  endure  the  least  independence  on  the 
part  of  his  teachers,  any  dissenting  opinion  was 
regarded  as  disloyalty  to  the  school  and  heresy  to 
the  cause.  The  disease  which  accompanies  abso- 
lute power  whether  in  the  monarch,  or  in  the 
pedagogue,  or  in  the  father  of  the  family,  began 


FEOEBEL  AS  PRINCIPAL.  195 

to  show  itself  distinctly  in  not  a  few  of  the 
actions  of  Froebel,  who  sometimes  fell  into  fits 
of  irascibility  like  those  of  Lear. 

Certain  effects  were  becoming  manifest.  "  The 
united  families  "  were  not  altogether  united,  and 
often  thwarted  secretly  his  tyranny.  Christian 
Froebel  was  not  happy,  nor  was  his  wife,  nor 
were  his  daughters.  What  kept  them  at  Keilhau? 
No  doubt  they  still  believed  in  the  idea  of  Fred- 
erick Froebel,  in  spite  of  his  conduct.  Then  the 
daughters  are  not  going  to  leave,  for  the  strong- 
est human  fetters  are  being  forged,  and  are 
chaining  them  to  Keilhau,  the  fetters  of  the 
human  heart.  But  we  begin  now  to  see  that 
separation  which  will  hereafter  eliminate  Froebel 
wholly  from  the  control  of  Keilhau. 

A  deeper  element  of  disintegration  is  the  dis- 
satisfaction of  the  teaching  force,  outside  of 
Middendorf  and  Langethal.  Schoenbein,  one 
of  the  most  distinguished  chemists  of  Europe, 
the  inventor  of  gun  cotten  and  the  discoverer  of 
ozone,  taught  for  a  time  in  the  school,  but  could 
not  endure  the  interference  and  the  overbearing 
supervision  of  his  department.  Another  scien- 
tific man  of  distinction,  Michaelis,  in  a  fit  of 
enthusiasm  joined  the  corps  of  teachers,  but  was 
unable  to  hold  out  long.  Froebel  would  inter- 
fere and  dictate  in  branches  about  which  he 
knew  nothing. 

But  the  chief  of  these  dissatisfied  instructors 


196  THE    LIFE    OF    FBOEBEL. 

was  a  Swiss  from  Canton  Lucern,  by  the  name 
of  Herzog,  whom  Froebel  and  all  Froebel's 
friends  and  biographers  agree  in  pointing  out 
as  the  incarnation  of  all  the  negative  forces 

o 

working  in  and  against  the  school;  in  fact, 
Herzog  is  portrayed  as  Keilhau' s  devil.  He  had 
been  befriended  by  Froebel  when  in  hopeless 
circumstances,  and  received  unsuspectingly  into 
the  bosom  of  the  school,  as  the  Serpent  into 
Paradise.  There  he  played  havoc  and  split 
the  institution  wide  open  by  his  fault-finding, 
by  his  nursing  every  discontented  person,  and 
finally  by  secret  plotting  and  calumny.  Truly 
the  diabolus  of  Keilhau  has  appeared  and  is  at 
work  as  the  Destroyer  of  this  new  Eden. 

But  it  must  be  always  understood  that  the 
Devil  himself  cannot  do  much  unless  he  finds 
an  element  to  work  in,  a  material  ready  to  be 
formed  by  his  plastic  hand.  So  Herzog  found 
no  small  quantity  of  negative  material  prepared 
by  Froebel  himself  at  Keilhau.  Of  course  there 
was  the  discontent  in  the  teaching  force.  But 
Herzog  soon .  came  upon  a  far  deeper  and  more 
desperate  matter,  the  real  stuff  of  diabolism,  which 
it  employs  for  its  greatest  successes.  Herzog 
discovers  and  seizes  upon  Froebel's  own  deed 
toward  his  brother's  widow,  as  the  very  element 
which  the  fiend  loves,  and  the  fuel  out  of  which 
he  can  build  the  fires  of  Hell  to  torture  his 
victim. 


FROEBEL   AS  PRINCIPAL.  197 

There  is  no  doubt  that  Herzog  urged  the  two 
sons  of  Madam  Christoph  Froebel  to  leave  the 
institute,  which  was  one  of  the  severest  blows  he 
could  strike  at  the  uncle.  Upon  his  advice 
Julius,  the  eldest,  obtained  a  position  with 
Michaelis,  who  had  already  left  Keilhau  and  was 
doing  some  cartographical  work  at  Stuttgart. 
The  nephew  went  to  see  the  uncle  for  the  last 
time  and  imparted  to  him  his  purpose  of  leaving  : 
"  In  God's  name,  go,  be  off,"  replied  the  uncle. 
(28) 

Not  long  afterwards  the  second  brother,  Carl, 
also  quit  Keilhau,  and  somewhat  later  Theodore, 
the  third.  It  is  evident  that  Froebel  had  built 
his  hopes  upon  these  nephews,  two  of  whom  had 
shown  decided  talent,  to  continue  his  work  as 
his  successors  and  his  apostles  in  the  family. 
Bitter  was  the  disappointment  when  they  became 
renegades  to  his  cause,  for  so  he  regarded  their 
action.  ««  The  first  letter  of  mine,"  says  Julius 
Froebel,  "  he  "sent  back  unopened,  and  he  gave 
my  brother  Carl  to  understand  that  his  (Carl's) 
letters  would  be  thrown  into  the  fire  unread. 
Only  22  years  later  did  he  write  me  a  few  friendly 
lines,  thanking  me  for  sending  him  one  of  my 
written  productions." 

Such  is  the  intensity  of  the  Furies  of  the 
Family  Froebel,  whose  birth  has  already  been 
described.  It  indicates  the  deep  scission  now 
taking  place  at  Keilhau.  Herzog  also  leaves  the 


198  THE    LIFE    OF    FEOEBEL. 

institute  and  goes  to  Jena,  where  he  is  made 
Doctor  and  Professor,  for  Herzog  is  a  man  of 
unquestioned  talent.  But  he  still  plays  the  part 
of  Keilhau's  devil,  and  reviles  Froebel  and  the 
school.  Alas !  only  too  much  material  can  he 
find  for  his  diabolic  work.  Chiefly  that  action 
of  Frederick  Froebel  toward  his  brother's  sister, 
who  started  his  school,  sacrificed  her  property 
for  him,  gave  even  her  silver  plate  to  meet  his 
emergencies  —  there  she  is  yonder  living  in  pov- 
erty at  Volkstadt,  while  her  sons  have  to  leave 
school  in  order  to  make  a  livelihood  for  her  and 
for  themselves,  with  debts  still  unpaid  by  success- 
ful Keilhau.  Then  other  debts  unpaid;  in  fact 
the  character  of  Frederick  Froebel  as  debt- 
payer  —  what  a  theme  for  the  evil-minded  reviler 
and  destroyer?  And  the  fiend  is  on  hand,  at 
Jena,  and  elsewhere,  busy  with  his  negative  vitriol 
dissolving  Keilhau  and  its  school. 

But  we  must  repeat  that  Froebel  himself  has 
amassed  the  tinder  and  brimstone  to  make  his 
own  hell-fire  ;  Herzog  applies  very  diligently  the 
match.  But  the  match  would  go  out,  were  there 
no  materials  just  ready  to  burn.  Still  in  spite 
of  these  negative  energies,  and  before  they  pro- 
duce their  explosion,  Keilhau  is  to  rise  yet  to  its 
fairest  bloom,  to  have  its  year  of  pure  flowering 
and  supreme  development. 

Such  a  demonic  destroyer  (Beelzebub)  has 
gotten  into  Keilhau,  and  somehow  gets  into  every 


FBOEBEL   AS  PRINCIPAL.  199 

school  at  some  time,  yea,  into  every  fair  Eden, 
so  true  is  the  old  story  of  man's  fall.  We  recol- 
lect how  Satanic  Schmid  (thus  many  speak  and 
write  of  him)  crept  into  good  Pestalozzi's  school 
at  Yverdon,  creating  untold  confusion;  at  first 
expelled,  he  returns  and  expels  everybody  except 
his  noble  victim,  Pestalozzi  himself.  And  even 
into  our  kindergarden,  most  innocent  paradise  of 
all,  the  Evil  One  has  been  known  to  insinuate 
himself,  in  the  shape  of  a  beautiful  woman,  pos- 
sibly Lilith  re-incarnated,  that  eldest  daughter  of 
Lucifer  and  first  temptress  of  father  Adam. 

But  enough  of  this  "  negative  element,"  how- 
ever real ;  let  us  turn  and  witness  the  fair  vision  of 
Keilhau's  grandiose  inflorescence  and  culmination 

in  Love's  festal  pomp  and  revelry. 
i 

VIII. 

The  Flowering  of   Keilhau. 

What  wonderful  new  festival  is  this  at  Keilhau 
on  the  16th  of  September,  1825,  in  which  the 
school,  the  teachers,  the  ladies,  put  on  their  gay- 
est attire,  and  break  out  into  a  grand  general  jol- 
lification? Two  betrothals  at  the  same  time  are 
celebrated;  whose  are  they,  think  ye?  Let  our 
fair  reader  guess,  for  she  has  a  sharp  eye  in  such 
matters.  One  she  has  rightly  suspected  a  good 
while,  so  that  she  is  not  surprised  when  she  hears 
that  Heinrich  Langethal  is  now  publicly  betrothed 


200  THE    LIFE    OF    FROEBEL. 

to  Ernestine  Crispine,  the  adopted  daughter  of 
Madam  Henriette  Froebel.  Thus  the  secret  of 
the  heart  has  come  out  to  sunshine ;  we  at  least 
have  always  surmised  that  Langethal  had  this 
maiden  in  mind  when  he  urged  Froebel  to  bring 
to  Keilhau  the  Berlin  lady.  Our  gallant  young 
knight  has  won  his  bride,  and  is  going  to  wind 
up  his  romance  of  life  with  a  happy  conclusion. 

The  second  betrothal  is  that  of  Wilhelm 
Middendorf  to  Albertine,  daughter  of  Christian 
Froebel.  I  know  what  Middendorf 's  bride  said 
to  him,  or  what  I  would  say  if  I  were  in  her 
place :  « '  Dearest  Wilhelm,  I  love  you,  and  I  deem 
you  the  greatest  catch  in  all  Germany,  but  may 
I  state  my  anxiety  on  one  point?  I  am  afraid 
you  love  my  uncle  Frederick  more  than  you  do 
me."  Well  may  Albertine  have  said  some  such 
thing  to  her  sweet  Wilhelm  during  these  happy 
but  anxious  days,  for  Middendorf 's  devotion  to 
Froebel  almost  reached  the  point  of  personal 
absorption .  "A  character  like  that  of  St .  John , ' ' 
said  an  admiring  friend  one  day.  "Yes,"  re- 
plied Langethal,  who  was  present,  "  such,  indeed, 
is  Middendorf,  and  Froebel  is  his  Christ." 

Then  the  third  man  we  must  note,  who  is  flit- 
ting in  and  out  of  Keilhau  during  these  days  with 
a  tremendous  inner  conflict  in  his  heart  between 
two  duties  —  duty  to  love  and  duty  to  parent. 
For  five  years  (1823-8)  he  goes  and  comes, 
fluttering  about  Keilhau  like  a  moth  around  a 


FEOEBEL   AS  PRINCIPAL.  201 

lamp,  the  poor  fellow!  We  allude  to  Barop, 
Middendorf 'a  sister's  son,  born  at  Dortmund, 
1802,  who  is  destined  to  become  principal  and 
proprietor  of  the  Keilhau  school,  and  in  such 
capacity  to  perform  a  most  important  service  to 
the  later  Froebelian  cause.  A  lofty  and  peculiar 
niche  he  holds  in  the  Keilhau  Pantheon;  for 
Barop  is  the  only  man  of  the  lot  apparently  who 
can  stand  before  Froebel  and  firmly  say  to  him, 
No !  enduring  all  his  irascibility  and  even  impre- 
cations with  an  unflinching  front,  then  turning 
to  help  him  and  save  him  from  his  own  mistakes 
and  failures. 

Like  every  school  experiment,  which  proposes 
to  make  man  and  society  over  and  to  reform  the 
world  through  educating  the  youth,  Keilhau 
began  early  to  attract  a  stream  of  visitors. 
Among  these,  in  the  year  1823,  was  our  young 
friend  Johannes  Arnold  Barop,  student  of  theol- 
ogy, who  had  come  to  see  uncle  Wilhelm  Mid- 
dendorf, having  heard  a  good  deal  about 
Keilhau  in  his  family,  chiefly  by  way  of  condem- 
nation. For  Middendorf 's  father  did  not  approve 
of  his  son's  abandonment  of  theology  for  peda- 
gogy, especially  for  such  a  wild  pedagogical 
scheme  as  that  of  Keilhau,  where  the  boys  seemed 
to  do  pretty  much  as  they  pleased,  and  where 
rumor  said  many  other  vagaries  were  rampant. 

Young  Barop,  aged  21,  thus  resolves  to  pay  a 
little  visit  to  his  uncle  and  see  the  school  by  the 


202  THE    LIFE    OF    FROEBEL. 

way.  But  he  becomes  interested  and  prolongs 
his  stay;  mean  while  he  undergoes  a -great  conver- 
sion, very  similar  to  that  already  recorded  of  his 
uncle,  a  conversion  from  theology  to  education, 
truly  a  baptism  in  the  spirit  of  the  time.  Secretly 
he  has  determined  to  be  a  teacher,  and  that  too 
a  teacher  at  Keilhau,  the  Lord  willing;  for  there 
is  no  other  place  on  this  earth  quite  like  it. 

But  parallel  with  this  religious  change  of  heart 
is  another  and  even  deeper  change  of  heart.  He 
has  seen  Fraulein  Emilie,  second  daughter  of 
Christian  Froebel,  and  there  read  a  message, 
which  bids  him  in  still  more  compelling  terms  to 
change  his  vocation  and  return  to  Keilhau.  But 
what  are  these  doings  which  he  cannot  help 
noting,  especially  in  his  sympathetic  state  of 
mind?  This  it  is:  that  uncle  Middendorf  shows 
decided  inclination  toward  the  eldest  daughter  of 
Christian  Froebel,  Albertine,  and  some  crisis  in 
their  case  is  surely  approaching.  That  would  be 
a  fine  scheme  for  uncle  and  nephew  to  marry 
these  two  sisters  and  both  become  educators  and 
promulgators  of  the  new  Idea. 

Therewith,  however,  rises  in  the  bosom  bitter 
conflict,  for  young  Barop  well  knows  that  his 
father,  who  is  Councillor  of  Justice,  wealthy  and 
of  high  standing,  has  outlined  an  altogether  dif- 
ferent career  for  his  son.  The  very  thought  of 
the  boy  quitting  his  vocation,  and  degrading  the 
high  position  of  his  family  and  going  to  live  with 


FROEBEL  AS  PRINCIPAL.  203 

that  crazy  band  of  enthusiasts  at  Keilhau,  set 
father  Bar  op  on  his  head,  the  stern,  unyielding 
man  of  Justice  and  the  Law.  "  That  boy  shall 
get  no  money  of  mine,"  he  shouts  in  wrath. 
"  Enough  that  you  Keilhau  people  have  taken  my 
wife's  brother,  Middendorf,  and  humiliated  us ; 
now  you  take  my  boy,  but  he  shall  have  not  a 
penny." 

Barop  has  to  leave  Keilhau  for  the  present, 
but  unless  I  much  mistake  the  youth  he  will 
come  back ;  he  will  pass  through  fire  to  return 
to  Keilhau.  But  now  he  must  go  off  t6  com- 
plete his  studies  and  to  do  his  allotted  military 
service,  such  as  is  required  of  every  citizen.  But 
he  will  come  back,  even  if  he  has  to  defy  his 
angry  father,  and  stare  disinheritance  in  the 
face.  Such  is  the  stuff  in  the  man,  and  the  test- 
ing which  he  has  to  undergo  in  order  to  bring 
out  its  quality.  He  will  come  back  entranced 
by  the  divine  idea  of  Froebel,  and  still  more  by 
that  other  divine  idea,  incarnate  in  Froebel' s 
niece,  the  lovely  Emilie,  for  so  he  must  regard 
her  in  her  terrestrial  appearance.  He  will  come 
back,  with  theological  examination  passed,  with 
his  year's  Prussian  military  service  finished,  with 
every  duty  done  except  that  one  impossible  duty 
of  obedience  to  parent,  the  stern  old  Councillor 
of  Justice,  bidding  him  renounce  Keilhau  and 
the  lovely  Emilie.  Can't  do  it,  keep  your  prop- 
erty, I  shall  follow  my  love  and  the  Idea. 


204  THE    LIFE    OF    FROEBEL. 

Surely  Providence  has  this  youth  in  training  for 
some  desperate  work  yet  to  be  done,  as  such  a 
character  is  not  developed  in  the  world  without 
a  purpose.  So  Barop  must  wait,  wait  many 
years  till  his  apprenticeship  be  served,  when  love 
will  blossom  out  into  marriage.  Not  till  1831, 
after  many  trials  of  his  own  and  of  Keilhau  too ; 
but  that  is  far  ahead,  and  must  now  be  dismissed 
for  another  happy  festival  which  is  just  crossing 
the  path  of  this  biography. 

This  is  the  double  wedding  of  Langethal  and 
Middendorf  which  took  place  in  the  spring  of 
1826,  the  season  of  flowers.  On  Ascension  day, 
when  the  Lord  ascended  to  Heaven,  so  did  these 
two  couples  in  imitation  of  the  supreme  example, 
to  the  extent  which  their  human  terrestrial  limit- 
ations would  permit.  Some  sixty  pupils,  the 
highest  number  Keilhau  ever  reached,  are  said  to 
have  been  present  at  the  celebration.  No  lack 
of  money  now;  see  the  festoons,  flowers,  inter- 
twined with  poetry,  song  and  dance.  Let  us 
note,  however,  that  the  original  fraternity  of 
three  —  Froebel,  Middendorf,  Langethal  —  is 
now  completely  dissolved  into  marriage,  from 
which  event  new  results  are  sure  to  spring. 

Such  is,  however,  the  highest  point  of  the 
prosperity  of  the  school ;  in  the  double  wedding 
Keilhau  puts  forth  its  supreme  flower,  doing  a 
kind  of  symbolic  deed;  the  great  Idea  seems 
successful  and  strides  victorious  over  its  ene- 


FROEBEL  AS  PRINCIPAL.  205 

mies.  What  can  henceforth  thwart  its  progress? 
A  feeling  of  triumph,  perchance  of  arrogance; 
yet  notice !  what  ominous  sign  is  this  which  we 
witness  ? 

This  very  year  the  pupils  begin  to  fall  off ; 
next  year  rapid  is  the  descent,  till  at  last  in  the 
year  1829  the  number  has  sunk  to  five,  and  Keil- 
hau has  gone  back  to  its  numerical  starting-point 
in  1817.  A  whiz  downward  which  makes  the 
head  dizzy;  what  is  the  cause  of  it?  Fate  has 
smitten  Keilhau  at  the  very  moment  of  its  fair- 
est flowering  and  sent  it  reeling  backward  to  the 
beginning ;  a  grim  Nemesis  seems  to  have  wreaked 
vengeance  upon  the  double  wedding  of  Midden- 
dorf  and  Langethal,  having  wrested  from  them 
the  means  of  support  for  their  new-born  families. 
Such  is  the  stunning  back-stroke  which  Froebel 
and  all  Keilhau  receive  at  the  top  of  their  great- 
est success.  Are  they  really  getting  their  own 
for  deeds  done  in  the  past?  And  are  the  Unseen 
Powers  bringing  home  to  them  some  violation,  af- 
ter many  years  of  quiescence  —  delaying,  not  for- 
getting? At  any  rate  the  blow  has  fallen  with  a 
marvelous  co-incidence  in  it,  and  the  wondering 
reader  cannot  help  thinking  of  Frau  Christoph 
Froebel,  still  off  yonder  at  Volkstadt  in  poverty, 
with  her  curse. upon  Keilhau  in  a  strange  process 
of  fulfillment.  (29) 


206  THE    LIFE    OF    FEOEBEL. 

IX. 

Literary  Keilhau. 

In  1826,  the  year  of  the  double  marriage, 
there  was  another  kind  of  flowering  of  Keilhau, 
which  we  may  name  the  literary,  in  a  book  called 
The  Education  of  Man.  At  the  same  time  with 
the  bloom  of  the  family  and  the  school,  Keilhau 
blossoms  out  in  a  piece  of  writing  which  has  be- 
come famous,  the  author  being  Froebel  himself. 
Yet  during  the  life-time  of  its  author,  the-  book 
was  wholly  unsaleable  and  unread  by  the  world 
outside  of  the  Keilhau  circle. 

Froebel  had  previously,  from  the  year  1820, 
been  giving  expression  to  himself  and  his  work 
through  the  printed  page.  In  the  mentioned  year 
(1820)  he  wrote  an  address  To  our  German  Peo- 
ple, which  recalls  Fichte's  book  with  nearly  the 
same  title.  Froebel  at  Berlin  already  had  been 
profoundly  influenced  by  Fichte's  appeal  for  the 
education  of  the  people.  It  was  Fichte  who 
directed  Germany  and  especially  Prussia  to  Pesta- 
lozzi  as  the  great  reformer  of  instruction.  Froebel 
is  clearly  moving  on  the  same  line,  only  he  pro- 
poses to  do  the  practical  work,  to  establish  the 
school,  has  in  fact  already  established  it  at  Keil- 
hau, could  the  public  but  see  the  matter  in  that 
light.  His  scheme,  however,  is  not  merely  the 
education  of  the  German  people,  but  the  edu- 
cation of  Humanity. 


FEOEBEL   AS  PRINCIPAL.  207 

After  this  first  booklet,  several  others  appear, 
all  of  them  on  the  principles  and  methods  of 
education,  especially  those  practiced  at  Keilhan. 
One  of  these  little  volumes  is  reviewed  by  the 
philosopher  Krause  in  1823,  who  wrote  an  article 
which  will  hereafter  become  memorable  in  Froe- 
bel'slife.  An  appreciative  word  from  a  noble 
man  will  be  a  source  of  consolation  in  a  dark 
hour,  and  will  encourage  the  prostrate  soul  to  rise 
again  and  begin  a  new  career. 

But  all  these  small  treatises,  after  due  lapse  of 
time,  culminate  in  The  Education  of  Man,  which 
shows  many  a  sign  of  being  a  collection  of  essays, 
often  of  paragraphs,  written  at  various  periods 
during  the  preceding  years.  For  it  is  not  a 
well-organized  book;  full  of  sudden  skips  and 
gaps;  also  full  of  repetitions  in  both  thought 
and  expression ;  an  amorphous  book  in  spite  of 
a  certain  outward  order  in  places ;  very  obscure 
in  spots,  then  clear  in  spots  to  triteness.  But 
with  all  its  drawbacks  it  is  often  very  suggestive ; 
a  book  abounding  in  sudden  intuitions,  and  thus 
appealing  strongly  to  a  certain  class  of  minds, 
especially  of  female  minds ;  one  may  note  that 
women  have  often  been  seen  to  delve  and  even  to 
revel  in  this  book  with  a  delight  which  no  man 
probably  has  ever  experienced  in  reading  it. 
There  is  great  unanimity  that  it  is  a  hard  book 
for  the  masculine  mind  to  blaze  its  way  through, 
since  to  most  of  us,  especially  on  the  first  perusal, 


208  THE   LIFE    OF   FROEBEL. 

it  is  like  a  Mexican  chapparal  through  which 
there  is  no  path,  into  which  there  is  no  pene- 
tration by  mortal  man  except  with  grubbing-hoe 
and  ax  and  fire. 

One  of  the  difficulties  of  the  book  is  its 
nomenclature  which  is  largely  derived  from  Ger- 
man Philosophy  of  the  Jena  period,  especially 
from  Schelling's  Philosophy  of  Nature.  It  is  a 
mistake  to  say  that  the  book  has  been  deeply  in- 
fluenced by  the  doctrines  of  Krause,  whose  inter- 
course with  Froebel  comes  later,  as  we  shall  soon 
see.  The  employment  of  Nature  as  the  grand 
means  of  education  through  its  symbolism  rather 
than  through  its  immediate  experimental  side,  is 
enforced  in  The  Education  of  Man,  and  is 
derived  from  Schelling.  The  fundamental  pro- 
cess of  education  as  unfolded  in  this  book  is  that 
Man  through  Nature  returns  to  God.  Over  and 
over  again  is  this  proposition  or  its  equivalent 
maintained,  and  in  it  we  may  see  how  completely 
in  Froebel' s  mind  religion  blends  with  education, 
and  how  profoundly  the  educator  has  become  the 
modern  priest. 

When  it  comes  to  educational  method,  Froebel 
leaves  the  reader  with  the  problem  unsolved. 
He  sees  the  two  sides,  the  prescriptive  and  the 
spontaneous,  but  cannot  reconcile  them.  At  this 
question  he  labors  in  his  introduction  to  The 
Education  of  Man  with  a  heavy  outlay  of  effort, 
chasing  the  two  sides  one  after  the  other  through 


FROEBEL   AS  PRINCIPAL.  209 

a  long  string  of  contrasted  predications  ;  all  to  no 
purpo.se. :  he  ends  in  the  dualism  with  which  he 
started.  His  leaning  is  doubtless  toward  the 
spontaneous,  permissive,  capriciously  free  side  of 
the  child,  yet  always  with  "exceptions. 

In  this  respect  the  book  mirrors  the  school  at 
Keilhau,  which,  as  we  have  already  seen,  showed 
on  the  one  hand  an  autocracy  approaching  despot- 
ism, and  on  the  other  a  freedom  approaching 
caprice  or  even  license.  This  contradiction 
worked  itself  out  at  last  in  the  decay  of  the 
school,  which  continued  until  Froebel  was  re- 
moved from  its  control.  Such  was  his  discipline : 
he  had  to  be  taken  away  from  Keilhau  in  order 
to  recover  from  its  scission  and  to  become  the 
founder  of  the  kindergarden. 

In  this  book  we  should  note  another  doctrine 
which  involves  the  author  in  deep  confusion  and 
contradiction.  Agains^  the  old  religious  tenet  of 
total  depravity,  Froebel  maintained  that  the 
child  was  by  nature  good,  indeed  quite  perfect 
from  the  start.  What  then  is  the  use  of  educat- 
ing him?  To  be  sure,  Froebel  felt  this  difficulty, 
and  seeks  to  obviate  it  by  this  and  that  limitation 
and  exception  (see  introduction  to  The  Education 
of  Man).  Still  the  inner  rent  remained  both  in 
his  soul  and  in  his  school,  and  clung  to  him 
during  his  whole  middle  period  of  which  we  are  now 
giving  the  record.  Rousseau's  indignant  protest 
against  the  old  oppressive  spirit  exercised  toward 

u 


210  THE    LIFE    OF   F  ROE  BEL. 

the  child  mightily  possessed  Froebel,  and  drove 
him  into  hostility  against  all  prescription  —  a  one- 
sided result.  So  he  must  get  out  of  Keilhau  and 
its  contradiction,  must  transcend  the  stand-point 
of  The  Education  of  Man ,  ere  he  can  accomplish 
his  greatest  work  in  the  world. 

But  all  this  will  require  time.  From  the  first 
publication  of  The  Education  of  Man  in  1826 
till  the  establishment  of  the  first  kindergarden 
at  Blankenburg  in  1837,  eleven  years  full  of 
change,  inner  struggle  and  development  will 
pass.  He  has  to  work  out  of  the  dualism  of 
Keilhau  and  solve  the  problem  of  freedom,  which 
he  does  in  the  kindergarden.  (30) 

And  here  we  must  note  a  grave  mistake  which 
is  frequently  committed  by  well-meaning  in- 
structors. We  hear  it  often  said  that  The  Edu- 
cation of  Man  contains  the  philosophy  of  the 
kindergarden.  How  improbable  such  a  state- 
ment is  on  the  surface  may  be  seen  by  a  simple 
comparison  of  the  above  dates  (1826  and  1837). 
But  when  we  look  into  the  inner  life  of  Froebel 
we  find  that  he  had  to  undergo  a  great  discipline, 
and  to  correct  deep-seated  errors  ere  he  could 
pass  from  Keilhau  to  Blankenburg,  ere  he  could 
rise  from  Froebel  the  schoolmaster  to  Froebel 
the  kindergardner. 

We  have  to  recognize,  then,  that  the  Educa- 
tion of  Man  is  the  product,  or,  if  you  please,  the 
philosophy  of  a  boys'  school,  not  that  of  the 


FKOEBEL  AS  PRINCIPAL.  211 

kindergarden ;  the  two  differ  in  the  class  of 
pupils,  differ  in  the  kind  of  teachers,  differ  in 
the  method,  differ  in  the  educational  standpoint. 
Undoubtedly  the  two  have  many  things  in  com- 
mon; we  often  see  Froebel  in  his  book  as  the 
incipient  or  the  potential  kindergardner,  but  not 
yet  developed. 

So  literary  Keilhau,  after  budding  through  a 
series  of  booklets,  is  full-blown  in  a  big  book. 
Since  the  brother,  Christian  Froebel,  came  with  his 
money  in  1820,  Frederick  Froebel  can  be  author 
and  print  at  his  own  expense,  or  his  brother's, 
what  he  writes.  He  has  not  found  and  prob- 
ably cannot  find  a  publisher,  who  will  furnish  the 
funds  for  printing  and  exploiting  these  writings. 
They  lack  saleability,  which  is  the  first  and  last 
category  of  a  publisher,  who  does  business  for 
the  money  in  it,  and  not  for  the  Idea.  The 
latter,  however,  is  Froebel' s  all-absorbing  end, 
and  so  between  him  and  a  publisher  there  is  a 
chasm  simply  impassable. 

Froebel  has,  accordingly,  to  publish  his  own 
writings,  if  they  are  ever  to  be  born  into  the 
reading  world  at  all.  It  is  foolish  in  Wichard 
Lange  to  blame  Froebel  for  this ;  it  sounds  too 
much  like  the  babble  of  a  certain  parasite,  the 
publisher's  lickspittle,  whose  servile  text  is  that 
the  sun  of  all  authorship  rises  and  sets  in  a  pub- 
lishing house,  the  author  himself  being  just  no- 
body or  what  the  publisher  chooses  to  make  him. 


212  THE    LIFE    OF    FHOEBEL. 

It  may  take  one,  ten,  fifty  or  a  hundred  years  for 
a  book  to  come  to  validity,  according  to  circum- 
stances; but,  if  it  be  printed,  it  will  grow  at  last, 
provided  it  have  the  vitality.  The  author  may 
be  dead,  it  is  true,  and  will  receive  no  reward  in 
money  or  fame  for  his  work,  but  that  he  must 
expect,  if  he  writes  anything  truly  original. 

Here  conies  a  man  with  a  book  not  an  echo  or 
repetition,  but  unique,  epoch-making  in  its  way, 
a  man  who  has,  therefore,  no  public,  and  if  he  had 
there  would  be  no  need  of  his  book.  His  public 
is  to  be  made,  or  re-made,  re-constructed,  filled 
with  a  new  Idea  not  easy  to  get,  perhaps  not 
pleasant  to  take.  In  the  nature  of  the  case  there 
is  no  publisher  for  such  a  book,  never  has  been 
and  never  will  be,  or  not  long  at  least,  for  he  will 
soon  be  bankrupt.  Still  the  book  has  to  be  printed 
and  planted  by  the  author,  if  he  fulfill  his  destiny, 
if  he  have  any  faith  at  all  in  his  mission. 

Consider  The  Education  of  Man  now,  after 
the  lapse  of  three-quarters  of  a  century  from  its 
birth,  in  contrast  with  its  early  neglect.  Trans- 
lated into  every  language  of  Europe;  sought 
after  by  every  publisher  of  an  educational  library ; 
read  by  every  teacher  who  seeks  to  be  acquainted 
with  the  history  and  literature  of  his  profession ; 
studied  and  pored  over  by  thousands  of  kinder- 
gardners  every  year,  till  some  of  them  can  repeat 
it  almost  by  heart;  three  English  translations 
known  to  us  (and  there  may  be  others)  with  pub- 


FROEBEL  AS  PRINCIPAL.  213 

lishers  raking  in  the  profits  of  a  book  which  they 
would  have  flung  into  the  fire  if  offered  to  them 
at  first  hand :  such  is  the  difference  between  then 
and  now,  all  because  Froebel,  with  faith  in  his 
Idea,  wrote,  printed,  and  planted,  regardless  of 
publisher  and  publisher's  public.  In  this  act  of 
Froebel,  as  in  so  many  others  of  his,  we  believe 
that  there  is  a  prophetic  strain :  the  time  is  com- 
ing, if  not  already  here,  when  the  New  Idea 
must  publish  itself  at  its  own  cost  of  toil  and 
hard  cash,  leaving  to  the  regular  publisher  the 
reproduction  of  the  whole  paraphernalia  of  the 
dead  past,  in  the  form  of  text-books,  dictionaries, 
cyclopedias,  series  of  all  kinds,  requiring  in  their 
authors  the  simple  mechanical  act  of  pouring 
water  from  one  bottle  into  another  perchance  of 
a  different  shape. 


CHAPTER   THIRD. 

THE  PRINCIPAL  DETHRONED. 

After  the  glory  of  the  double  wedding  the 
blow  fell  upon  Keilhau,  the  blow  which  had  long 
been  secretly  preparing.  Froebel  will  be  com- 
pelled to  leave  the  school  over  which  he  has  pre- 
sided for  a  dozen  years  and  more ;  yet  this  is  not 
all;  he  will  feel  himself  forced  to  quit  his  coun- 
try. Another  uncertain  fluctuating  period  sets 
in  till  he  goes  to  Switzerland  in  1831. 

Very  deep  runs  his  complaint  against  his  neph- 
ews, whom  he  charges  with  "  more  than  ingrati- 
tude ' '  for  having  deserted  him  and  taken  from 
him  "their  youthful  energies"  upon  which  he 
had  relied  « *  to  bring  back  a  new  springtide  of  in- 
tensified life  "  into  his  institution,  when  it  needed 
them  most.  But  those  "  youthful  energies"  had 

(214) 


THE  PRINCIPAL  DETHRONED.  215 

become  his  bitterest  foes,  having  taken  up  their 
mother's  cause,  and  being  supported  in  their 
malignity  by  that  insidious  fiend  of  Keilhau  (for 
such  Froebel  deemed  him)  the  Swiss  Mephis- 
topheles  already  mentioned.  So  the  reader,  with 
pity  and  with  terror  we  may  hope,  has  again  to 
look  upon  the  Furies  of  the  Family  Froebel  at 
work,  requiting  with  grim  vengeance,  as  is  their 
wont,  some  violation  of  eternal  right,  of  which 
they  are  the  unforgetting  and  remorseless  vindi- 
cators. Even  old  Greek  Hesiod  could  see  hover- 
ing in  the  air  ten  thousand  demons,  guardians  of 
Justice  (Dike),  whose  function  was  to  scourge  the 
guilty  man  for  his  hidden  deed  of  wrong.  But 
whatever  be  our  judgment  of  Froebel' s  action, 
one  thing  is  certain :  the  blow  falls  upon  him  and 
keeps  falling  upon  him  with  a  vengeful  thud,  and 
its  main  source  can  be  traced  back  to  that  one 
promise  of  his,  which  has  certainly  waked  up  the 
Nemesis  of  injured  Love,  and  is  hounding  him 
out  of  Keilhau  and  even  out  of  Germany.  (31) 
Such  is  unquestionably  the  situation ;  let  the 
sympathetic  reader  justify  where  and  how  and 
whom  he  will.  But  here  comes  a  new  question 
and  most  important  of  all :  Can  our  Froebel  rise 
up  under  this  rain  of  fatal  blows  ?  Granted  that 
through  his  deed  he  has  woven  a  dark  strand  of 
destiny  into  his  life,  can  he  pluck  it  out  again  or 
neutralize  its  might?  Very  interesting  is  the 
problem:  Can  Frederick  Froebel,  now  in  the 


216  THE    LIFE    OF   FEOEBEL. 

clutches  of  Fate  and  apparently  doomed  as  its 
victim,  make  the  grand  turn  and  show  himself 
the  master  of  Fate,  veritably  the  Fate-compeller  ? 
In  substance  this  is  what  we  are  to  witness  in  the 
following  Chapter. 

I. 

The  Fall   of  Keilhau. 

A  number  of  causes  contributed  to  the  rapid 
descent  of  Keilhau,  some  quite  superficial,  others 
deep,  and  one  the  deepest.  The  more  important 
we  may  call  up  in  a  rapid  survey. 

Debts  had  continued  to  accumulate  even  in  the 
time  of  prosperity.  Neither  Froebel  nor  his  wife 
were  good  managers.  In  fact,  there  is  strong 
testimony  that  Frederick  Froebel  was  deficient  in 
the  sense  of  debt-paying.  Not  that  he  was  dis- 
honest, not  that  he  used  what  he  borrowed  for 
his  own  personal  gratification  in  the  way  of  high- 
living  or  money-making;  he  subordinated  all, 
even  his  creditors,  to  the  Idea,  with  or  without 
their  consent. 

Christian  Froebel,  who  had  given* his  entire 
possessions  to  Keilhau,  and  rescued  it  from  finan- 
cial ruin,  was  a  good  business  man,  but  he  was 
wholly  set  aside  by  his  brother  in  the  management 
of  the  property.  Christian's  wife,  a  thrifty 
housekeeper,  did  not  or  could  not  restrain  the 
the  bad  management  of  Madam  Henrietta 
Froebel.  Middendorf  hud  thrown  in  his  little 


TEE  PEINCIPAL  DETHRONED. 

all,  and  it  was  soon  swallowed.  Barop  could  get 
nothing  from  the  stern  and  disgruntled  old 
Councillor  of  Justice,  his  father. 

As  long  as  fifty  or  sixty  pupils  were  paying 
their  tuition,  interest  on  debts  could  be  met  and 
the  school  might  continue  to  swim  along  free  of 
the  dunner,  though  encumbered  with  obligations. 
But  the  rapid  drop  in  the  number  of  students 
brought  the  institution  to  a  sudden  standstill, 
which  gave  such  a  jolt  that  everything  tumbled 
together  in  confusion. 

The  result  was  that  a  secret  opposition  to 
Froebel's  further  management  arose  in  the  insti- 
tution among  his  best  friends.  It  began  to  be 
seen  that  he  must  be  eliminated  from  the  admin- 
istration of  the  school,  of  which  he  had  shown 
himself  totally  incapable.  Yet  nobody  thought 
for  a  moment  of  deserting  the  Idea.  In  fact,  the 
question  was :  How  shall  we  save  Froebel  from 
himself,  save  Froebel  the  educator  from  Froebel 
the  administrator  ?  Herein  Barop  is  the  coming 
man.  He  possesses  great  administrative  capacity, 
and  at  the  proper  moment  will  get  hold  of  the 
reins  of  authority;  then  he  has  a  fearless,  in- 
flexible will,  which  can  say  no,  even  to  Froebel, 
and  endure  all  the  latter 's  irascibility  and  exe- 
cration without  ever  becoming  disloyal  to  the 
cause.  Quite  a  man  is  this  Barop,  whom  we 
have  already  noted  as  being  under  training  for 
some  desperate  business. 


218  THE   LIFE    OF  FROEBEL. 

Another  obstacle  for  Keilhau  was  the  trend  of 
the  time.  All  liberal  men,  who  had  shown  dis- 
appointment because  the  great  awakening  of  the 
folk-spirit  in  1815  and  the  War  of  Liberation 
had  brought  no  fruits  of  freedom,  were  sus- 
pected, persecuted,  and  imprisoned.  The  reac- 
tion was  intensified  when  a  crack-brained  student 
by  the  name  of  Sand  murdered  the  poet  Kotz- 
ebue.  A  deep  feeling  of  antagonism  on  the  part 
of  all  the  established  governments  sprang  up 
against  the  very  names  of  progress  and  freedom. 

In  the  nature  of  things  Keilhau  could  not  es- 
cape suspicion.  No  direct  political  propaganda 
was  carried  on  there,  but  certainly  an  indirect, 
and  shame  if  there  had  not  been  in  those  days. 
Barop  innocently  turned  the  scent  of  the  Prus- 
sian police  toward  Keilhau,  where  he  happened 
to  be  on  a  visit  when  his  papers  were  seized  at 
Halle  —  he  being  a  student  there  at  the  time  — 
though  no  incriminating  evidence  was  found  in 
them.  The  result  was  Keilhau  began  to  be 
looked  upon  as  a  "  breeding- nest  of  young  dema- 
goguery,"  the  same  charge  being  made  against 
many  schools  and  universities  of  the  time.  This 
was  the  reason  why  Inspector  Zeh  had  been  sent 
to  see  what  was  going  on  at  Keilhau,  out  of 
which  visit  grew  his  Report  above  cited. 

At  this  period  there  was  no  German  nationality, 
no  great  organized  State  Teuton-uniting,  but  a 
dissevered,  recalcitrant  mass  of  little  States. 


THE  PRINCIPAL   DETHEONED.  219 

But  if  there  was  no  German  Nation,  there  was 
emphatically  a  German  People,  and  a  mighty 
impulse  was  throbbing  in  the  German  heart  to- 
ward a  politically  united  fatherland.  This  was 
the  impulse  to  which  Froebel  specially  responded. 
But  there  is  no  question  that  it  was  against  the 
established  order  as  then  embodied  in  princedom, 
dukedom,  kingdom,  and  what  not.  The  folk- 
spirit  was  fostered  at  Keilhau,  no  doubt  of  it; 
song  and  story,  custom  and  costume,  even  the 
food  and  shelter  showed  a  return  to  the  primeval 
folk-mother  Teutonia,  who  was  still  to  be  found 
by  the  diligent  seeker  in  her  ancient  haunts  amid 
the  forests  and  on  the  mountains. 

The  school  at  Keilhau  could  not,  therefore,  be 
called  friendly  to' the  established  order  in  Church 
or  State,  as  they  showed  themselves  in  Germany 
during  this  period.  -We  have  already  seen  how 
Froebel  went  back  to  the  old  Teutonic  folk-spirit, 
which  he  invoked  to  educate  itself  anew  in  order 
to  produce  better  men  and  of  course  better  in- 
stitutions. The  implication  was  that  the  present 
institutional  system  was  not  satisfactory. 

A  deeper  ground  for  Keilhau 's  decline  lay  in 
the  educational  principle  of  the  school  itself. 
It  labored  under  an  inner  contradiction,  which 
with  time  must  end  in  disruption.  Froebel  was 
still  involved  in  the  difficulty  which  came  down 
to  him  from  Rousseau ;  he  made  the  education  of 
the  boy  essentially  permissive,  having  really  no 


220  TEE   LIFE    OF   FEOEBEL. 

place  for  prescription.  Yet  Froebel  was  one  of 
the  most  autocratic  principals  that  ever  lived,  as 
regards  both  the  course  of  study  and  the  teachers 
under  him.  So  there  was  always  a  streak  of 
caprice  in  the  pupil,  and  a  streak  of  arbitrariness 
in  the  master,  a  corner  of  disorder  and  a  corner 
of  oppression.  This  inner  rent  we  have  already 
seen  formulated  in  the  Education  of  Man,  which 
is  the  theoretical  expression  of  the  boys'  school  at 
Keilhau,  but  not  of  the  kindergarden. 

Still  let  no  one  underestimate  Keilhau  and  its 
work;  it  had  started  principles  which  make  it 
immortal.  Possibly  its  very  one-sidedness  ren- 
ders them  more  impressive.  Keilhau  was  after- 
wards a  success ;  but  Keilhau  the  failure  is  of 
far  greater  significance  than  Keilhau  the  success. 
The  tragedy  of  life  teaches  always  a  mightier 
lesson  than  the  happy-making  and  happy-ending 
comedy. 

But  the  deepest  thread  of  destiny  in  the  trag- 
edy of  Keilhau  was  spun  into  the  school  at  its 
birth,  for  it  was  really  born  of  that  fatal  promise, 
ambiguous  as  any  Delphic  oracle:  "  I  shall  take 
the  place  of  father  to  your  orphaned  children." 
It  furnished  the  chief  material  in  which  Herzog 
wrought  with  such  telling  effect,  for  the  Keilhau 
diabolus  goes  over  to  Jena,  where,  as  student  and 
teacher  in  the  central  University  of  all  that  re- 
gion, he  can  scatter  from  a  vantage-ground  his 
calumnies  throughout  the  whole  of  Thuringia. 


THE   PRINCIPAL   DETHRONED.  221 

The  spawn  of  Satan  the  Destroyer  Froebel  and 
his  friends  regard  this  young  Switzer ;  but  be- 
hold! here  stand  Froebel' s  two  nephews  and 
pupils  ready  to  confirm  every  word  of  Herzog; 
yes,  and  off  yonder  at  Volkstadt  is  still  living 
widow  Christoph  Froebel,  who  also  has  a  painful 
confirmatory  tale  to  tell,  if  she  so  chooses.  As 
she  is  a  great  talker  and  disputatious,  her  tongue 
will  not  fail  to  open  her  Pandora  box  of  ills,  and 
let  them  fly  to  the  four  winds. 

Thus  the  Nemesis  of  violated  Love  keeps 
working  away  in  its  mine  underneath  Froebel' s 
structure  at  Keilhau,  which  is  indeed  tottering. 
Competent  witnesses  (says  Lange)  assure  us  that 
Herzog  did  Froebel  untold  injury.  The  time  of 
reckoning  has  indeed  arrived  for  Froebel ;  from 
every  quarter  of  the  Heavens  echoes  of  his  con- 
duct since  the  very  beginning  of  Keilhau  come 
floating  on  the  air  back  to  his  ears.  (32) 

But,  oh  sore-stricken  mortal,  now  is  the  time 
to  show  thy  supreme  manhood.  Rise,  though 
thou  art  in  the  very  clutches  of  Fate,  the  Fate  of 
thine  own  Deed,  which  is  now  returning  to  thee 
with  shrieks  of  vengeance.  Listen  to  its  re- 
proaches :  thou  hast  not  paid  the  just  obligation 
between  man  and  man ;  thou  hast  been  a  despot 
of  despots  in  the  very  citadel  of  freedom,  though 
claiming  to  work  in  the  cause  of  liberty  and 
humanity;  but,  chiefly,  thou  hast  been  faithless 
to  thy  promise  of  love  to  woman.  Listen  to  that 


222  yuE   LIFE    OF    FEOEBEL. 

voice  and  take  its  discipline,  and  then  begin  thy 
new  career.  I  tell  thee  a  great  epoch  is  coming 
into  thy  life  just  now  in  spite  of,  yea,  by  virtue 
of  these  misfortunes,  if  thou  but  rightly  digest 
them.  Though  in  the  very  talons  of  destiny, 
thou  canst  rescue  thyself;  in  defiance  of  thy 
past  Deed  with  all  its  cohorts  of  Fates  and  Furies, 
thou  canst  still  liberate  thyself  and  celebrate  thy 
greatest  triumph.  Up  and  get  ready,  master 
that  inner  fateful  limitation  of  thine,  and  then 
forth  to  work,  for  thy  mightiest  task  is  yet  to  be 
done. 

II. 

Hope  and   Disappointment. 

In  some  such  fashion  as  the  preceding  we 
bring  before  ourselves  the  Fall  of  Keilhau,  and 
the  precipitation  of  its  principal  with  his  band  of 
fellow-workers,  men  and  women,  from  the 
highest  pinnacle  of  success,  down  into  the  nether- 
most abysm  of  failure  and  despair,  yea,  toward, 
if  not  quite  into,  the  depths  of  starvation  or 
beggary.  Still  he  is  not  going  to  remain  down 
there,  but  turns  and  struggles  and  stretches  forth 
his  hands  in  many  an  attempt  to  rise. 

While  the  blows  kept  falling  thick  and  heavy 
upon  Froebel  at  Keilhau,  he  was  casting  about 
for  some  change  already  in  1827,  the  year  of 
the  grand  crisis  in  his  school.  Very  naturally 


THE  PRINCIPAL  DETHRONED.  223 

he  thought  of  friendly  Doctor  Zeh,  who  had 
made  such  a  favorable  report  upon  what  he  saw 
in  the  Universal  German  Institute,  some*  two  or 
three  years  before.  Moreover,  Doctor  Zeh  was 
the  leading  man  in  authority  over  the  educa- 
tional work  in  the  Princedom  of  Rudolstadt,  in 
which  Keilhau  is  situated.  The  tenure  to  a  piece 
of  property  exactly  suitable  for  a  school  dedi- 
cated to  the  propagation  of  the  New  Idea,  had 
just  passed  to  the  State.  Here  Froebel  thinks 
he  sees  his  chance,  and  so  he  writes  a  letter  to 
Doctor  Zeh,  setting  forth  the  importance  of 
using  the  newly  acquired  property  for  the 
noblest  of  all  purposes,  namely,  education. 

The  good  Doctor  seems  to  have  been  willing 
enough,  but  the  plan  went  to  pieces.  Had  not 
Froebel  with  his  Keilhau  Institute  given  to  Prince 
Giinther  no  end  of  trouble  already?  Other  gov- 
ernments of  Germany  had  complained,  especially 
Prussia,  of  that  pest-hole  of  young  demagoguery 
in  his  territory,  and  the  liberal  Prince  had  enough 
to  do  in  protecting  one  such  institution  without 
starting  another  under  that  same  Froebel.  And 
on  account  of  the  friendly  warmth  of  Doctor 
Zeh's  former  report,  the  latter  had  probably 
crippled  his  own  influence  somewhat,  being  re- 
garded not  exactly  as  an  unbiased  witness  for  the 
Keilhau  schoolmaster. 

Whatever  be  the  cause,  the  scheme  failed,  the 
Princedom  of  Rudolstadt  was  not  to  have  the 


224  THE    LIFE    OF   FR OE BEL. 

<» 

glory  of  making  the  New  Idea  a  part  of  its  Public 
School  System.  The  event,  however,  indicates 
quite  an  important  phase  in  the  life  of  Froebel. 
He  is  now  ready  to  make  his  educational  work 
a  belonging  of  the  State,  from  which  it  had  been 
hitherto  quite  separated,  if  indeed  it  were  not 
actually  antagonistic  to  the  same.  But  he  be- 
gains  to  see  that  he  must  reconcile  himself  to  the 
established  order,  nay,  that  he  must  constitute 
his  work  an  integral  part  of  that  order,  if  it  is  to 
be  permanent,  weal- bringing,  and  truly  universal. 

A  great  step,  we  think,  in  the  evolution,  or 
perchance  revolution,  of  Froebel  now  going  on 
inwardly;  it  is  a  kind  of  confession  that  he 
must  bring  Keilhau  out  of  its  aloofness  from 
the  civil  life  of  the  time,  and  make  his  school 
really  institutional.  He  must  remove  the  dual- 
ism which  has  rent  it  in  twain;  then,  too,  he 
may  help  transform  the  State  from  within,  or  at 
least  make  a  start  in  that  mighty  task. 

We  must  note,  therefore,  that  Froebel,  in  the 
pressure  of  his  present  calamity,  has  sought  to 
institutionalize  his  Institute,  that  is,  to  bring  it 
into  harmony  and  participation  with  the  institu- 
tional world  above  him  and  around  him.  Not 
submission  is  this  to  the  might  of  an  outer  des- 
tiny, but  the  result  of  a  new  insight  into  the 
divine  order  of  the  world ;  he  is  clearly  rising 
out  of  nativism  into  nationalism,  he  is  changing 
from  that  primitive  Teutonic  folk-spirit  hitherto 


THE  PRINCIPAL  DETHRONED.  225 

so  emphatically  cultivated  in  Keilhau,  to  the  civ- 
ilized and  organized  spirit  of  the  Nation,  in  spite 
of  its  imperfections  at  this  period. 

Still,  his  effort  is  fruitless,  and  he  is  thrown 
back  into  himself  almost  with  violence.  What 
will  he  now  seize  upon?  whom  will  he  now  grasp 
after?  After  himself,  first  of  all,  for  he  is  in 
danger  of  sinking  in  that  oceanic  wave  of  adver- 
sity surging  over  his  whole  existence.  Accord- 
ingly he  will  take  a  retrospect  of  his  entire 
life,  and  look  up  afresh  the  landmarks  of  his 
career.  In  this  mood  of  reminiscence  he  writes 
two  autobiographies,  both  belonging  to  the  pres- 
ent period  and  tendency.  One  of  them,  the 
Letter  to  the  Duke  of  Meiningen,  has  already 
been  mentioned  and  used  often  in  the  course  of 
this  narrative ;  the  other,  the  Letter  to  Krause, 
is  now  specially  to  be  drawn  upon  and  woven 
into  the  texture  of  Froebel's  Life.  Whereupon 
there  is  a  call  to  know  something  more  of  the 
man  to  whom  Froebel  in  his  misfortune  is  led  to 
pour  out  his  heart.. 

III. 

The  Philosopher    Krause. 

In  these  days,  with  the  great  decrease  in  the 
number  of  pupils,  Froebel  has  plenty  of  time  on 
his  hands,  and  needing  and  seeking  sympathy, 
he  begins  to  look  up  those  who  have  in  any  wise 

15 


226  THE    LIFE    OF    FROEBEL. 

supported  him  in  his  work.  Going  back  five 
years  to  1822,  he  recollects  that  the  philosopher 
Krause,  who  lived  at  Gottingen,  had  noticed  in 
a  prominent  periodical  of  that  day  (the  Isis)  the 
Universal  German  Institute  with  great  favor,  and 
had  declared  the  general  agreement  between  his 
philosophy  and  that  of  Froebel.  Krause  did  not 
like  the  name  Universal  German  Institute, 
though  he  was  friendly  to  its  principles.  More- 
over, the  Gottingen  philosopher  has  sent  his 
printed  writings  to  Froebel,  who  has  hitherto 
neglected  them,  but  now  begins  to  read  them. 
(33) 

Krause  was  the  only  professor  at  any  of  the 
great  Universities  of  Germany  that  had  taken 
notice  of  Froebel,  who  complains  of  the  neglect. 
Krause  was  the  only  professor  who  appreciated 
the  genius  of  the  educator,  and  gave  encourage- 
ment to  the  New  Idea.  The  greatest  educational 
star  of  modern  times  was  above  the  horizon,  but 
the  learned  men  at  the  University  could  not  see 
it,  for  it  is  not  their  business  to  look  at  new  stars, 
and  Froebel  ought  not  to  have  expected  it. 

Then  there  was  another  sympathetic  link  of 
connection:  Krause  was  also  an  unappreciated 
genius.  He  had  wrought  out  an  elaborate  sys- 
tem of  philosophy  of  his  own,  but  his  follow- 
ing was  not  large.  Just  at  this  time  came  the 
supremacy  of  Hegel  at  Berlin  and  in  Germany. 
Krause  could  not  help  contrasting  the  small 


THE  PRINCIPAL  DETHRONED.  227 

number  of  his  adherents    with    the    triumphant 
disciples  of  the  Berlin  professor. 

So  the  two  unappreciated  geniuses  began  to 
come  together  in  deep  mutual  sympathy.  Froe- 
bel  starts  to  studying  Krause's  writings  after  five 
years  of  neglect,  for  which  he  has  some  difficulty 
in  apologizing,  and  opens  a  correspondence  which 
a  little  later  leads  to  a  personal  visit  to  the  phi- 
losopher at  Gottingen. 

Krause  was  one  of  the  philosophy-builders 
in  the  great  epoch  of  philosophy-building,  which 
was  in  full  bloom  at  this  time  in  Germany. 
Mighty  philosophic  structures  lie  scattered 
through  the  first  half  of  the  present  century, 
the  grandest  period  of  thought-construction  that 
the  world  has  yet  seen.  Most  of  them  are  now  quite 
solitary  and  tenantless;  only  the  excavator  by 
profession  undertakes  to  explore  these  labyrinths. 
An  epoch  like  that  of  the  pyramid-builders  in 
the  Nile  valley,  where  hundreds  of  pyramids  seem 
to  rise  suddenly  out  of  the  earth.  All  show  toil, 
life-long  herculean  toil,  still  there  are  lesser  and 
greater;  three  or  four  of  supreme  magnitude, 
yet  even  among  these  is  one  greatest  of  all. 
So  among  these  hundreds  of  philosophic  edifices 
there  is  one  greatest  of  all,  but  this  is  not 
Krause's.  One  of  the  lesser  pyramids  among 
this  forest  of  pyramids  is  his,  now  attracting  the 
tourist  chiefly  because  Froebel  entered  it  and  ex- 
plored it  in  these  days  for  comfort  from  his 
calamities. 


228  THE    LIFE    OF   FEOEBEL 

And  another  comparison  forces  itself  into 
view:  these  pyramids  are  grave-stones,  the  most 
colossal  ever  set  over  mortal  remains,  and  the 
land  of  the  pyramids  is  a  monumental  graveyard, 
out  of  which  the  Present  seeks  to  restore  some 
vanished  shape  of  the  Past.  So  Germany  is  a 
vast  graveyard  of  philosophies,  which  later  ex- 
plorers have  tried  to  dig  up  and  resurrect  into 
the  new  life  of  the  Present.  This  very  Krause 
has  had  a  man  devoting  a  life-time  to  his  resur- 
rection and  rehabilitation,  namely  Von  Leon- 
hardi ;  in  like  manner  Baader  has  found  his  Hoff- 
man, Herbart  his  Rein  and  other  pedagogical 
revivifiers,  and  most  successfully  Schopenhauer 
has  been  made  to  live  after  he  was  dead,  and  even 
born  dead,  mainly  through  the  miraculous  man- 
ipulations of  Doctor  Julius  Frauenstadt. 

Froebel,  however,  never  became  a  follower  of 
Krause,  indeed,  he  distinctly  refused  to  be  such, 
for  he  had  his  own  philosophy ,  or  thought  he  had. 
And  every  German  man  in  this  prolific  epoch  of 
system-building  claimed  to  have  his  own  philos- 
ophy (seine  eigene  Philosophie).  A  far-off 
echo  of  this  Teutonic  movement  could  be  heard 
some  years  ago  even  in  the  Mississippi  Valley, 
among  the  German  farmers  of  Illinois  and  Mis- 
souri, German  emigrants  who  had  once  been 
students  at  some  University,  and  who  also  had 
"their  own  philosophy, "  often  written  out  in 
piles  of  manuscript,  product  of  rainy  days  and 


THE  PRINCIPAL  DETHRONED.  229 

of  recreation  from  tilling  the  soil  and  from  hew- 
ing down  the  forest. 

So  it  becomes  the  duty  of  the  biographer  of 
Froebel  to  conjure  up  for  a  few  moments  the 
philosophic  ghost  of  K.  C.  F.  Krause,  since  he 
has  woven  himself  into  Froebel' s  life  at  a  pivotal 
epoch  in  its  history.  Very  creditable  is  this  in- 
tercourse to  the  philosopher,  who,  extending  the 
hand  at  the  needful  moment,  helps  Froebel  rise 
to  his  feet  more  than  any  other  man  probably, 
not  excepting  his  Keilhau  friends.  So  honor  be 
unto  Krause,  if  not  for  his  philosophy,  cer- 
tainly for  his  human  sympathy  given  in  the 
very  pinch  of  destiny.  His  kind  words  call 
forth  a  letter  from  Froebel,  in  many  ways  mem- 
orable, and  specially  of  deep  significance  to  this 
biography  of  his,  whose  turning-point  it  is  at  a 
most  weighty  conjuncture.  The  import  of  this 
letter  is  next  to  be  set  forth. 

IV. 

Froebel  the  Fate-corn  pel  ler. 

So  we  designate,  not  altogether  willingly,  but 
under  the  stress  (or  distress)  of  expression,  the 
present  section,  in  the  hope  that  the  reader,  who 
has  also  his  battle  with  the  constraining  Powers 
of  Life,  may  interpret  the  strange  word  sympa- 
thetically through  his  own  experience. 

A  most  important  document  for  showing  Froe- 


230  THE    LIFE    OF   FEOEBEL. 

bel's  inner  struggles  at  this  time  of  humiliation 
and  failure  is  the  afore-mentioned  letter  to 
Krause  under  date  of  March  27th,  1828.  Its 
main  interest  lies  in  the  fact  that  it  exhibits  the 
man  overwhelmed  by  Fate  in  his  rise  to  the  man 
overcoming  Fate,  truly  the  Fate-cornpeller.  He 
is  deeply  stricken  by  the  Nemesis  of  his  own 
deed,  or  his  own  character.  But  this  is  not  the 
end  of  the  matter ;  his  call  now  is  to  recognize 
whence  came  the  blow,  and  to  master  it  at  its 
very  source. 

First  is  a  note  of  complaint  that  "  life  in  the 
men  outside  of  me  and  around  me  was  dead 
beyond  resurrection,"  and  he,  filled  with  his 
ideal,  did  not  see  their  condition.  '*  As  children 
not  only  ascribe  human  life  to  stones  and  pieces 
of  wood,  but  actually  behold  it  in  them,  so  I 
believed  that  I  found  a  living  human  spirit  in  the 
moving  shapes  of  humanity,"  but  I  was  deceived ; 
he  could  not  convince  the  masses  of  the  people 
even  by  the  results  of  his  work.  So  has  come 
the  grand  disillusion  about  man.  Especially  bit- 
ter is  the  fact  that  "  I  sought  to  realize  my 
thought  with  my  own  people  among  whom  it  was 
born;"  but  the  effort  was  in  vain.  "The 
thought  was  too  great,  too  universally  human" 
for  the  Germans,  though  if  "  I  had  treacher- 
ously called  it  English,  or  French,  or  what  not, 
it  would  have  succeeded  better." 

Thus    the    Fate-stricken    man    irives    himself 


THE  PRINCIPAL  DETHRONED..  231 

up  to  complaining,  to  blaming  something  else, 
in  his  moment  of  weakness.  But  he  knows 
that  this  is  unmanly,  yes,  that  it  is  untrue,  and 
we  shall  see  him  turn  on  the  spot  and  strike 
another  note :  ' «  Therefore  must  I  strive  and 
struggle  according  to  eternal  Law,  in  order  to 
make  my  earthly  and  human  error  not  only 
harmless,  but  to  transform  the  outer  obstruction 
into  a  means  of  higher  internal  furtherance." 
Thus  he  begins  to  sound  on  his  trumpet  a  Fate- 
compelling  note,  the  prelude  of  his  rise.  But 
not  yet,  not  yet,  for  listen  to  another  drop  back 
to  unmanly  complaint. 

"  I  found,  indeed,  sympathetic  men,  but  they 
were  too  weak ;  they  resembled  iron  filings  drawn 
by  a  magnet;  when  the  spirit  wrought  upon 
them  immediately,  they  held  fast;  "  otherwise 
not.  This  spirit,  of  course,  was  I,  Frederick 
Froebel.  Not  a  very  appreciative  account  of  his 
faithful  associates,  who  seem  here  implied. 
Even  more  bitter  is  his  allusion  to  those  who  left 
him,  Herzog  and  his  nephews,  whom  he  charges 
with  more  than  ingratitude. 

But  now  comes  a  swing  of  the  pendulum  in 
the  other  direction.  He  knows  that  he  is  weak 
in  such  bemoanings,  and  so  he  calls  a  halt  to 
himself.  "  But  why  do  I  repeat  to»you  this  old, 
old  song?  By  no  means  for  the  sake  of  lament- 
ation or  of  complaint,  nor  to  throw  the  blame 
on  others,  after  the  manner  of  thousands  of 


.         THE    LIFE    OF    FEOEBEL. 

fools."  So  he  cudgels  himself,  for  just  this  is 
really  what  he  has  been  doing  in  the  preceding 
outbreaks.  Another  turn  toward  the  Sun;  let 
us  now  see  him  mount  eagle-like  with  out- 
stretched pinions  in  the  following :  — 

1  '  Early  and  continued  observation  of  myself 
and  of  life  taught  me  what  pure  thought  has 
since  confirmed  in  me  to  unshaken  conviction, 
namely,  that  man  must  find  the  causes  of  his 
life's  happenings,  of  his  life's  destinies  at  last  in 
himself  as  the  one  essential  and  contingent  fac- 
tor—  in  his  own  feeling,  thinking,  doing  —  and 
also  find  therein  the  ways  and  means  for  the 
realization  of  his  selfhood,  for  the  transforma- 
tion of  his  life." 

May  we  not  now  say  that  Frederick  Froebel 
has  here  seen  and  expressed  the  mastery  over 
Fate?  Certainly  he  has,  and  he  knows  it;  he 
speaks  of  the  exceeding  comfort  and  wealth  of 
such  a  conviction,  though  in  his  external  life 
"  blow  followed  on  blow."  Great  is  his  joy  in 
shedding  that  old  incumbrance  of  his,  even  with 
pain,  "  for  I  see  the  new  and  higher  life  budding 
within."  Thus  he  has  won  "  his  loftier  dig- 
nity "  in  his  "  new  stage  of  development." 
This  dignity  means  his  rise  above  the  crushing 
blows  of  outer  destiny,  which  have  smitten  him 
along  with  his  school  at  Keilhau.  (34) 

Accordingly  he  was  now  ready,  and  not  before, 
to  take  in  hand  and  appreciate  the  works  of  the 


THE  PRINCIPAL  DETHRONED.  233 

philosopher  Krause,  to  whom  he  next  proceeds 
in  his  letter  to  give  an  account  of  the  events  of 
his  life. 

Such  is  the  attitude  which  Froebel  now  as- 
sumes :  he  recognizes  himself  to  be  the  cause  of 
his  own  Fate,  and  at  once  starts  to  transform  that 
Self,  thus  becoming  not  the  victim,  nor  even  the 
stern  buffeter  with  Fate,  but  its  controller,  trans- 
figurer,  compeller.  He  utters  the  lofty  convic- 
tion that  the  crash  of  Keilhau  is  a  new  step  to 
the  higher  work  now  awaiting  him.  In  this 
fashion  he  fits  himself  into  the  Divine  Order,  and 
beholds  his  lot  as  a  part  of  its  process,  which  he  is 
to  see  and  make  his  own.  He  has  taken  his  mis- 
fortune as  his  discipline,  and  converted  it  into  a 
stepping-stone  for  the  upward  future  career. 

It  is  manifest  that  Froebel,  though  45  years 
old  and  more,  has  found  a  new  teacher  of  him- 
self, namely  Life,  and  is  taking  the  lesson  to 
heart.  The  last  and  highest  personal  teacher  of 
every  man  is  his  own  Deed  or  line  of  Deeds 
called  Life  or  Conduct,  with  their  return  upon 
him,  their  penalty  of  sorrow.  Thus  he  comes  to 
know  himself  in  his  own  finitude,  to  behold  the 
very  birth-mark  of  his  mortality  through  suffer- 
ing, being  brought  face  to  face  with  the  limit  of 
his  own  character  and  compelled  to  answer  the 
question:  Shall  I  sink  now  beneath  it  or  rise 
above  it?  To  such  a  brink  of  abysmal  descent 
or  of  celestial  ascent  we  see  that  Froebel  has  just 


234  THE    LIFE    OF    FROEBEL. 

come  and  that  he  does  not  propose  to  go 
downwards. 

Yet  we  must  mention  the  fact  that  the  ultimate 
trainer  and  educator  of .  man  is  the  World's  His- 
tory, quite  impersonal  and  impartial,  which  is  not 
his  Deed  nor  of  him,  but  into  which  the  individ- 
ual educator  must  fit,  to  which  he  must  rise 
through  the  school  of  Life,  and  of  which  he 
must  become  the  bearer  in  his  idea  and  his  work. 
This  is  just  the  meaning  of  Froebel's  terrible  dis- 
cipline; could  we  but  behold  the  flowering  of 
Time,  we  would  find  that  he  is  in  training  to  be 
the  realizer  of  the  Spirit  of  the  Age  in  Education, 
and  must  be  scourged  out  of  his  nature's  imper- 
fections, and  out  the  limitations  inherent  in 
his  character,  at  least  as  far  as  they  stand  in  the 
way  of  his  divinely  appointed  task. 

And  the  pedagogue  cannot  help  adding  the 
remark  that  the  right  study  of  History,  for  the 
above  reason,  is  deeply  educative,  especially  when 
seen  interwoven  into  its  counterpart,  which  is 
Biography.  Or,  we  may  say  more  definitely, 
the  right  study  of  the  Father  of  History  (ancient 
Herodotus)  is  specially  educative,  he  who  first 
saw  and  imparted  to  his  race  this  conception 
of  the  World's  History,  catching  it,  as  it  were, 
in  its  primal  bloom  and  fragrance,  and  who  has 
hardly  been  equalled  since  in  this  regard. 

Returning  from  these  far-stretching  thoughts 
to  simpler  matters  in  the  path  of  our  narrative, 


THE  PRINCIPAL  DETHRONED.  235 

let  us  not  fail  to  notice  the  effect  of  the  friendly 
word,  which  is  not  lost,  though  it  may  have  to 
wait  long  for  the  fruit.  Krause's  sympathetic 
review  was  not  at  first  regarded  by  Froebel,  in 
the  midst  of  his  activity,  and  of  his  success. 
But  now  in  the  day  of  misfortune  the  friendly 
word  blooms  after  years  of  quiet  waiting,  and 
bears  a  marvelous  flower,  really  giving  fresh 
hope  to  the  stricken  man,  becoming  the  very 
pivot  on  which  he  turns  about  and  starts  in  the 
new  life. 

O,  Krause,  we  like  this  better  than  any  of  the 
hard- worded  formulas  of  thy  philosophy,  over 
which  we  cannot  here  undertake  to  break  our 
reader's  head,  and  our  own,  too.  This  one  act 
of  thine,  done  in  human  kindness  to  Frederick 
Froebel,  being  duly  recorded  of  thee,  and  sent 
down  time  through  the  printed  page  to  his 
myriads  of  coming  disciples,  shall  make  thee 
more  memorable  than  thy  grand  pyramidal  phi- 
losophic edifice  on  which  thou  wert  building  so 
many  toilsome  years,  all  thy  life  in  fact.  Nay, 
just  this  act  of  divine  recognition  on  thy  part, 
recognizing  an  unrecognized  genius  in  his  distress, 
has  caused  us,  and  will  doubtless  cause  other  ex- 
plorers of  Froebel's  Life,  to  resurrect,  partially 
at  least,  thy  entombed  system  of  philosophy, 
hunting  it  up  and  selecting  it  for  honor  out  of 
the  vast  multitude  of  similar  pyramids  strewn 
through  the  philosophers'  Yale  of  Eest. 


236  THE    LIFE    OF    FROEBEL. 

V. 

Froebel's  Visit  to    Krause. 

Soon  a  new  purpose  began  to  dawn  in  Froe- 
bel's mind,  so  strong  and  soul-supporting  had 
been  the  consolation  which  he  had  derived  from 
Krause' s  books  and  letters,  as  he  lay  in  Keilhau 
stunned  by  "  blow  upon  blow  "  in  the  hand  of 
destiny.  He  rises  and  says  to  himself :  "I  must 
see  him  in  the  body.  I  shall  pay  a  visit  to  the 
Philosopher  himself  at  Gottingen." 

Accordingly,  in  the  fall  of  that  same  year 
(1828),  Froebel  sets  out  upon  this  pilgrimage, 
taking  his  dearest  friend,  Middendorf,  along,  who 
was  his  comforter,  counsellor,  consoler  —  a  true 
high-priest  to  that  deeply  humiliated  soul.  Then 
Middendorf  (as  his  name  curiously  suggests)  was 
the  supreme  middle-man,  a  veritable  mediator 
for  Froebel,  who  often  repelled  by  his  egotism 
and  downright  rudeness  as  well  as  by  his  appear- 
ance. The  silvery-tongued  Middendorf  was  an 
orator,  a  persuader  of  men,  and  particularly  of 
women;  with  his  watchful  attendance,  Froebel 
may  be  permitted  to  go  to  Gottingen.  It  will 
also  be  a  pleasant  diversion,  perchance  a  sugges- 
tive lesson  for  him,  to  see  the  University  where 
he  had  studied  some  seventeen  years  before 
(1811). 

So  let  the  two  unappreciated  geniuses  come  to- 
gether and  have  a  consolatory  talk,  and  let  them 


THE  PRINCIPAL  DETHRONED.  237 

at  least  appreciate  one  another.  Krause's 
friends  declare  that  he  would  have  left  behind 
him  a  great  school  of  philosophy  like  that  of 
Hegel,  if  he  had  only  succeeded  in  getting  the 
professorship  in  Berlin,  for  which  he  competed 
with  Hegel,  but  which  he  lost.  So  he  has 
received  the  blow  of  Fate  also,  which  has  robbed 
him  of  the  opportunity  all  golden,  to  be  the  suc- 
cessor of  the  great  Fichte.  He  likewise  was  at 
Jena  (1801-4)  at  the  time  of  the  grand  philo- 
sophical culmination  there,  and  must  have  heard 
Schelling  and  Hegel,  both  of  whom  were  then  at 
Jena. 

What  did  the  two,  Froebel  and  Krause,  talk 
about?  Philosophy  and  education,  of  course; 
or  perchance  the  philosophy  of  education,  in 
which  both  found  their  chief  interest,  though 
from  different  directions.  It  is  recorded  that 
Krause  specially  called  Froebel' s  attention  to 
their  great  predecessor,  Comenius,  not  appreci- 
ated then,  who  had  anticipated  many  of  the  doc- 
trines of  Pestalozzi  and  of  Froebel  a  century  and 
a  half  before  their  time.  Among  other  things, 
Comenius  insisted  upon  object  instruction  (An- 
schauungsunterricht) ,  and  he  believed  in  learning 
by  self -activity.  But  that  which  connects  him 
not  only  with  the  present  but  the  future  Froebel, 
is  education  of  the  infant  in  the  cradle  through 
the  mother.  One  of  his  works  is  his  Mother's 
School ',  which  is  in  line  with  Froebel' s  greatest 


238  THE   LIFE    OF   FROEBEL. 

production,  The  Mother  Play -songs,  as  well  as 
in  line  with  Pestalozzi's  Mothers'  Book. 

Very  stimulating  and  suggestive  was  this  inter- 
course with  Krause,  as  it  began  to  turn  his  eyes 
toward  his  true  destiny,  the  kindergarden. 
Already  he  has  been  moving  a  little  in  that  direc- 
tion, but  the  sympathetic  philosopher  gave  a 
push  which  never  lost  its  momentum.  Truly, 
epoch-making  was  Krause's  word  now,  quite  like 
that  of  Gruner,  when  he  said  to  Froebel,  "  Be  a 
teacher."  Also,  Krause  may  have  led  Froebel 
to  see  more  in  the  institutional  life  of  man  than 
he  had  before  seen. . 

The  philosophy  of  Krause  had  already  been 
profoundly  consolatory  to  Froebel  in  his  present 
mood.  The  basis  of  it  was  a  theistic  view  of  the 
world,  placing  a  self-conscious  God  at  the  center, 
as  the  highest  supreme  unity  of  Spirit  and 
Nature.  Froebel' s  immediate  personal  problem 
was  to  reconcile  the  crash  of  Keilhau  with  the 
divine  government  of  the  universe,  to  see  in  the 
obscuration,  if  not  total  evanishment,  of  his 
grand  enterprise  the  hand,  yea  the  command  of 
Providence. 

So  a  little  circle  gathered  round  the  two 
strangers  from  Keilhau,  in  the  house  of  the 
Frankenbergs,  a  family  living  in  the  country 
near  Gottingen,  and  fervent  disciples  of  Krause's 
philosophy.  Also  a  young  man  named  Hermann 
Von  Leonhardi,  afterwards  distinguished  as 


THE  PRINCIPAL  DETHRONED.  239 

Krause's  most  persistent  and  devoted  disciple, 
was  of  the  number  who  met  and  exchanged 
ideas  in  that  quiet  country-home  of  the  sympa- 
thetic Frankenbergs,  to  whom  Krause  was  the 
Prophet. 

But  how  about  the  lights  of  Gottingen,  the 
Professors  in  the  University  ?  With  two  or  three 
exceptions,  they  looked  at  the  whole  set  askance, 
as  crack-brained  dreamers  and  enthusiasts.  In- 
deed some  of  them  ridiculed  the  new-comers, 
whose  external  appearance  gave  only  too  much 
ground  for  a  sarcastic  titter  among  those  sleek, 
well-fed,  well-stalled  and  well-groomed  Profes- 
sors in  the  University. 

For  just  look  at  the  leader,  Froebel,  as  he 
walks  down  the  street  of  the  town,  dressed  in 
the  old-German  costume,  with  long  coat  swash- 
ing about  his  long  legs ;  he  has  no  necktie ;  long 
hair  is  parted  in  the  middle  and  fluffed  behind  his 
ears,  dangling  partly  down  his  back;  note  his 
deeply  browned  visage  from  his  out-door  life,  not 
"  sicklied  o'er  with  the  pale  cast  of  thought." 
The  rollicking  students  jeered,  and  the  street 
urchin  could  not  keep  back  a  hoot.  Middendorf  t 
too  had  the  same  costume,  with  the  Keilhau  long 
hair,  and  so  enforced  that  lesson  of  antique 
rusticity  given  to  the  University  of  Gottingen. 

When  Froebel  entered  the  drawing-room  and 
began  to  talk,  the  impression  was  not  lessened  on 
closer  inspection.  Friend  and  foe  agree  in  one 


240  THE   LIFE    OF   FEOEBEL. 

point  at  least  upon  Froebel,  that  he  was  the  pos- 
sessor of  a  preternatural  homeliness.  A  long, 
pointed,  somewhat  curved  nose,  whose  hook 
would  crook  over  the  more  with  his  smile ;  enor- 
mous ears  spreading  out  on  each  side  of  his  head 
like  a  cabbage-leaf;  low  forehead,  small  eyes; 
his  physiognomy  is  declared  by  one  observer  to 
resemble  that  of  a  Hindoo.  (35) 

When  he  opened  his  mouth  and  began  to  talk, 
it  was  easy  to  see  that  his  speech  was  not  ele- 
gant, but  uncombed,  even  brusque ;  then  it 
would  fly  oft'  in  a  fit  of  ecstasy  to  regions  where 
few  if  any  could  follow.  He  had  a  peculiar  vo- 
cabulary not  known  to  the  Professors  at  Gottin- 
gen ;  it  was-  derived  chiefly  from  what  he  had 
heard  at  Jena  nearly  thirty  years  before,  and 
largely  belonged  to  the  nature-philosophy  of 
Schelling.  All  this  was  coupled  with  no  small 
display  of  self-conceit  —  surely  a  fantastic  ap- 
pearance at  Gottingen. 

Still  here  was  the  genius,  the  very  genius  of 
the  education  of  the  Future  let  loose  among 
University  Professors,  whose  vocation  is  to  deal 
with  the  Past,  or  rather  the  echo  of  the  Past. 
Great  was  the  contrast,  externally  and  internally ; 
a  chasm  lies  between  the  two  kinds  of  men,  over 
which  no  bridge  has  yet  been  built.  But  Krause 
was  there,  the  two  formed  a  point  of  union  in  a 
man  whose  followers  both  of  them  were  in  .a 
sense,  namely,  Schelling.  Each,  however,  pro- 


TEE  PRINCIPAL  DETHRONED.  241 

tested  in  true  German  fashion  that  he  had  "  his 
own  philosophy."  So  Froebel  does  not  become 
a  disciple  of  Krause,  nor  Krause  of  Froebel,  and 
neither  will  acknowledge  Schelling  as  master  nor 
anybody  else. 

VI. 

Helba  the  New  Hope. 

The  visit  to  Krause  took  place  in  the  fall  of 
1828,  Froebel  returned  to  Keilhau  which  was 
sinking  deeper  and  deeper  into  debt  and  despair. 
But  a  new  scheme  appeared  above  the  horizon, 
bringing  with  it  a  fresh  crop  of  Hope.  This  was 
the  projected  institute  of  Helba,  the  plan  of 
which  was  made  by  Froebel,  who  sent  out  an 
announcement  of  the  enterprise  in  early  spring 
1829. 

It  seems  that  the  proposition  did  not  originally 
come  from  Froebel  or  his  people,  but  from  the 
court  of  the  Duke  of  Meiningen,  whose  personal 
physician,  Dr.  Hohebaum,  had  given  special 
attention  to  the  work  at  Keilhau  and  had  inter- 
ceded with  the  Duke  for  the  purpose  of  establish- 
ing a  People's  Educational  Institute  at  Helba 
near  Meiningen,  of  which  Froebel  was  to  be 
principal.  Froebel  was  called  into  the  Duke's 
presence,  and  an  agreement  was  made  by  which 
the  place  known  as  Helba  with  thirty  acres  of 
land  and  with  a  yearly  appropriation  of  1000 

16 


242  THE   LIFE    OF  FROEBEL. 

gulden  (4-500  dollars)  was  to  be  devoted  to 
purposes  of  education. 

Great  was  the  joy  which  hailed  Froebel  on  his 
return  to  Keilhau  with  this  new  scheme,  which 
brought  back  fresh  visions  of  food  and  of  future 
usefulness  to  that  little  band  now  reduced  almost 
to  the  starvation  point.  In  fact  it  could  not 
during  the  present  year  pay  for  what  it  ate. 
Hence  the  jubilation  which  saluted  the  bringer 
of  the  good  news,  who  was  by  nature  optimistic, 
and  who  probably  colored  his  report  with  a 
certainty  which  the  facts  did  not  warrant. 

But  just  see !  Keilhau  is  to  be  the  apex  of  a 
grand  system  of  education  supported  by  the 
State.  No  longer  is  it  to  pursue  its  solitary 
course  in  its  secluded  vale  of  Schaale ;  it  is  to  be- 
come public,  yea  truly  institutional  henceforth. 
For  the  plan  includes  the  following  four  schools 
or  departments :  — 

1.  An  orphan  nursery  in  which  little  children 
(three  to  seven  years  old)  are  to  be  cared  for  and 
developed.     Note    this    as    a   prophecy   of   the 
kindergarden. 

2.  An  elementary  school  for  older  children, 
which  was  to  employ  some  new  methods  in  edu- 
cation.    These  two  schools  or  departments  were 
located  at  Helba,  and  were  to  make  the  start. 

3.  A  school  for  German  art  and  industry  was 
included  in  the  plan,  though  it  was  to  be  carried 
out  later. 


THE  PRINCIPAL  DETHRONED.  243 

4.  Finally  came  Keilhau,  "  a  school  for  higher 
knowledge,"  preparatory  to  the  University. 
Thus  Keilhau  is  placed  at  the  apex  of  the 
system. 

Such  was  the  brilliant  new  rainbow  that  sud- 
denly overarched  the  cloudy  skies  of  Keilhau. 
Just  in  the  nick  of  time  does  it  appear,  for,  to 
tell  the  truth,  we  have  this  year  (1829)  only  five 
pupils,  who  have  in  some  mysterious  way  to  sup- 
port four  families  belonging  to  the  school,  and 
apparently  some  outside  teachers.  Now  we  can 
all  have  work  and  bread  again ;  up  spring  our 
hearts,  elastic  with  Hope. 

Let  the  reader  scrutinize  the  Helba  plan  some- 
what closely,  for  it  shows  in  certain  respects  a 
movement  beyond  Keilhau.  The  first  thing 
which  draws  the  attention  is  the  scheme  for 
developing  small  children.  Says  Froebel  in  a 
letter  to  Barop,  under  the  date  of  March  11, 
1828:  "The  education  and  treatment  of  small 
children  from  the  third  to  the  seventh  year  has 
occupied  me  a  long  time."  Evidently  the  first 
impulse  goes  back  to  Pestalozzi,  whose  Mothers' 
Book  Froebel  had  studied  with  care  while  at 
Yverdon,  in  1809.  (See  his  Report  to  the  Prin- 
cess Eegent;  also,  Chap.  I.,  Book  II.,  of  the 
present  biography.)  In  the  same  letter  to 
Barop,  occurs  the  following  passage:  "I  shall 
not  call  this  institute  a  school,  because  it  is  not  a 
school,  and  I  do  not  wish  the  children  to  be 


244  THE   LIFE    OF   FROEBEL. 

schooled  in  it,  but  to  be  freely  unfolded  *  *  * 
the  divine  element  is  to  be  guarded  and  fostered 
as  far  as  it  is  possible  for  human  beings."  This 
concerning  Helba  some  nine  years  before  the  first 
kindergarden  at  Blankenburg ;  no  such  institute 
for  small  children  belonged  to  Keilhau.  Such 
a  forward  step  into  his  future  work  has  Froebel 
here  taken.  (36) 

What  was  impelling  him?  Already  we  have 
noticed  the  influence  of  Pestalozzi,  but  that  lay 
twenty  years  back.  The  direct  impulse  came 
from  his  stimulating  correspondence  and  personal 
intercourse  with  Krause,  the  philosopher  of  Got- 
tingen,  who  just  recently  (1828)  had  pointed 
out  to  him  the  significance  of  the  pedagogical 
writings  of  Comenius,  and  specially  of  the  lat- 
ter's  Mother's  School,  in  which  the  education  of 
infants  was  strongly  enforced.  Froebel  was  un- 
doubtedly ready  for  the  suggestion,  which  he 
starts  at  once  to  realizing  practically  at  Helba. 

Another  surprise  awaits  us  in  regard  to  the 
amount  of  constructive  work  which  Froebel  puts 
into  his  course  of  instruction.  The  materials 
which  he  uses  are  paper,  wood,  wire,  clay,  with 
a  great  diversity  of  forms.  He  evidently  has 
the  idea  that  every  human  occupation  can  be  edu- 
cative; the  boy  can  be  trained  by  a  trade,  and 
not  simply  to  a  trade.  Through  the  fertile  brain 
of  Froebel  seem  to  have  passed  all  these  modern 
schemes  of  education  by  means  of  some  form  of 


TEE  PRINCIPAL  DETHRONED.  245 

hand-work.  While  I  am  writing  this  chapter 
(May,  1900)  in  Chicago  town,  here  is  laid  before 
me  the  last  new  scheme  in  this  same  direction, 
running  somehow  thus:  the  humblest  artisans 

o 

are  to  be  sought  out  and  shown  the  evolution  of 
their  trade  —  and  thus  educated  and  elevated, 
not  by  some  remote  abstract  study,  but  by  the 
very  thing  which  they  are  doing,  in  which  and 
by  which  they  live,  for  it,  too,  has  a  history  as 
well  as  a  state  or  a  city.  The  poor  woman, 
still  plying  her  loom,  can  have  her  soul  unfolded 
and  uplifted  by  following  the  processes  in  the 
unfolding  of  her  daily  occupation.  Tke  school 
is  not  now  to  teach  a  trade,  but  the  trade  is  to 
teach  a  school.  Such  is  the  idea  already  under- 
lying this  project  of  Froebel,  still  in  the  course 
of  fulfillment. 

Here  we  may  see  the  psychical  movement  of 
education,  as  it  lay  in  the  plan  of  Froebel. 

First,  the  child  must  do  or  make  something ; 
primarily  he  is  Will,  a  productive  being. 

Second,  the  child  finds  out  through  doing  that 
he  needs  to  know,  and  thus  rises  in  him  the  desire 
of  knowledge ;  he  must  also  be  Intellect,  a  re- 
ceptive being. 

Third,  the  child  finds  that  through  knowing 
he  can  always  do  better;  his  Will  must  be 
laden  with  Intelligence,  thus  he  can  transcend 
limits  and  always  be  improving  —  a  spiritual 
being. 


THE   LIFE    OF   FROEBEL. 

Such  is  the  project  of  Helba,  prophetic ;  it 
passes  before  us  as  a  grand  forecast  of  the 
future,  purely  imaginary,  for  it  was  never  realized. 
But  it  suggests  that  the  practical  utilitarian  labors 
of  man,  agriculture,  carpentry,  weaving,  etc.,  be 
transformed  into  a  means  of  education,  and 
thereby  prophesies  many  things,  for  instance, 
manual  training  and  the  occupations  of  the  kin- 
dergarden.  Education  was  once  to  be  made  use- 
ful, but  now  the  useful  is  to  be  turned  back  to  its 
source  and  made  educative. 

But  what  next?  Jealousy  began  to  stir  the 
hearts  of 'the  educational  authorities  of  Meiningen 
at  this  new  influence.  The  Duke  had  consulted 
Froebel  about  the  best  way  of  educating  his  only 
son  and  heir,  and  was  told  directly :  "Educate 
your  boy  with  other  boys."  The  Duke  followed 
this  sensible  advice,  which  was  contrary  to  the 
former  method ;  but  Froebel  incurred  the  enmity 
of  the  previous  instructors,  who  naturally  began 
to  intrigue  against  the  Helba  scheme  and  its 
promoter. 

All  the  reports  about  Keilhau  were  diligently 
gathered  and  brought  to  the  Duke.  And  what 
could  he  not  hear?  Imagine  him  listening  to  a 
letter  from  Herzog,  the  demonic  scourge  of  Keil- 
hau, now  at  Jena.  What  a  story  would  the 
Froebel  boys,  the  estranged  nephews,  tell  about 
their  uncle,  if  called  on  to  testify?  And  the 


TEE  PRINCIPAL  DETHBONED.  247 

busy  plotters  might  even  get  a  word  from  Madam 
Christoph  Froebel  living  not  far  away  from 
Meiningen.  Again  that  old  Nemesis  is  at  work 
destroying  the  new  hope  of  Froebel.  And  it 
succeeds,  all  Froebel' s  thinking  and  planning  for 
Helba  during  nearly  two  years  come  to  nothing. 
The  Duke  begins  to  grow  cool,  to  change  the 
plan,  to  limit  the  number  of  pupils.  Froebel, 
observing  the  Duke's  change  of  manner  and  lack 
of  confidence,  and  knowing  only  too  well  the 
reason,  does  not  try  to  make  any  defense,  but  at 
once  throws  up  the  whole  business  and  with- 
draws. 

Thus  another  vengeful  blow  is  delivered  by 
the  Furies  of  the  Family  Froebel,  and  all  Keil- 
hau  sinks  down  reeling  into  a  blacker  despair 
than  ever.  That  iridescent  arch  of  Hope  which 
spanned  the  Heavens  with  the  bright  name  of 
Helba,  festooned  in  all  the  colors  of  the  rain- 
bow, has  vanished  into  night,  the  darkest  Keil- 
hau  ever  saw.  It  is  reported  that  Froebel  went 
almost  crazy  during  these  days ;  he  often  stood 
dazed  and  speechless  under  the  terrible  strokes. 

The  Duke,  liberal  and  kind-hearted  though  he 
was,  could  not  disentangle  the  diabolic  farrago 
of  calumny  and  intrigue,  which  netted  him  about 
on  every  side.  What  mortal  could  at  that  time? 
Many  cannot  now,  looking  through  the  perspec- 
tive of  almost  three-fourths  of  a  century,  so  intri- 


248  THE   LIFE    OF   FBOEBEL. 

cately  woven  of  good  and  evil  is  this  web  of  fatal- 
ities. Still  we  have  to  see  Froebel  even  here  in 
training  for  his  future  work.  The  Powers  will 
no  longer  let  him  rest  at  Keilhau,  nor  at  Helba, 
nor  in  Thuringia,  nor  in  Germany.  Their  decree 
is  expatriation  —  he  has  not  yet  heard  it,  but  soon 
will. 


CHAPTER  FOURTH. 

EXPATRIATION. 

Every  attempt  on  the  part  of  Froebel  to  re-^ 
cover  himself  in  Germany  has  failed.  From  the 
Helba  project  he  has  gone  back  to  Keilhau,  but 
he  cannot  stay  there  with  nothing  to  do.  It 
looks  as  if  he  would  have  to  leave  his  native 
Thuringia  and  go  to  a  foreign  land.  Ill  fortune 
or  perchance  Providence  has  seemingly  barred 
every  way  at  home ;  only  one  road  is  open,  and 
that  leads  beyond  the  German  border  —  but 
whither?  A  new  time  of  wandering  and  uncer- 
tainty has  set  in,  as  at  former  periods  of  his 
career.  Are  the  destinies  taking  him  in  hand  and 
preparing  him,  all  unconscious,  for  the  grand 
transition  of  his  life  into  his  new  final  vocation? 
At  any  rate  one  thing  is  certain :  again  the  ques- 

(249) 


250  THE   LIFE    OF   FROEBEL. 

tion  has  risen  with  all  intensity,  "  What  shall 
I  do  with  myself  now?  " 

In  this  mood  he  resolves  to  pay  a  visit  to 
Frankfort  where  he  began  his  work  of  teaching 
about  twenty-five  years  since.  Thus  he  turns  back 
the  leaves  of  the  book  of  life  to  that  place  and 
time  at  which  his  career  as  educator  opens,  taking 
a  retrospect  of  the  past  and  making  an  adjustment 
for  the  future.  Back,  back,  to  the  starting- 
point,  through  a  full  quarter  of  a  century,  and 
cast  the  horoscope  of  life  once  more ;  interrogate 
the  oracle  of  thy  destiny  on  the  spot  where  it 
gave  thee  the  first  response ;  listen  to  what  it 
may  say,  perchance  once  more  it  will  whisper  in 
thine  ear  the  divine  word  of  direction. 

At  Frankfort  Froebel  finds  his  old  patroness 
and  friend,  Frau  Yon  Holzhausen,  whose  boys  he 
trained  as  private  tutor,  and  took  to  Yverdon,  the 
school  of  Pestalozzi  in  Switzerland.  The  two, 
it  seems,  had  occasionally  exchanged  letters 
during  all  the  intervening  years,  and  his  former 
pupils  were  his  friends.  Thus  a  sympathetic, 
encouraging  echo  comes  to  him  out  of  the  dis- 
tant past,  out  of  the  early  days  of  his  activity. 
Moreover,  Gruner  was  still  there  and  at  work  in 
his  profession,  at  whose  school  Froebel  began  his 
pedagogical  career.  And  this  same  Gruner  was 
the  man  who  voiced  the  oracle  of  life  for  Froe- 
bel, which  has  wrought  and  is  still  working :  "  Be 
a  teacher."  Perchance  the  voice  will  again 


EXPATBIATION.  251 

speak  the  pivotal  word  in  the  present  crisis. 
Such  is  Froebel's  return  upon  his  early  begin- 
ing,  to  the  very  starting-point  of  his  vocation, 
with  which  the  present  Book  of  his  biography 
commences. 

Not  purposed  was  all  this,  but  rather  the 
blind  instinct  of  a  new  epoch  of  life,  which, 
must  go  back  to  its  primeval  sources.  But 
who  now  crosses  his  path?  As  he  unfolds  his 
pedagogical  principles  one  day,  he  has  an  eager 
listener,  Xaver  Schnyder  Yon  Wartensee,  a 
famous  composer  of  music,  a  devotee  of  Natural 
Science,  and  a  pupil  of  Pestalozzi,  also  a  friend 
of  Jean  Paul  Eichter,  author  of  Levana.  At 
the  house  of  Yon  Holzhausen  this  man  hears 
Froebel,  and  is  captivated,  yea,  he  is  electrified 
to-  the  point  of  discipleship.  Furthermore,  he 
hears  of  Froebel's  plan  of  a  new  school  which 
is  to  complete  the  reform  begun  by  Pestalozzi, 
and  to  give  a  fresh  basis  for  all  instruction. 
Schnyder  soon  discovers  that  Froebel  is  at  pres- 
ent seeking  a  call,  is  indeed  ready  to  start  with 
something  the  very  next  day.  Here,  then,  drops 
the  oracular  word  from  the  mouth  of  Schnyder 
as  if  it  were  from  Heaven :  ' '  Go  with  me  to 
Switzerland  and  take  possession  of  my  castle  of 
Wartensee  on  the  shore  of  Lake  Sempach,  and 
there  open  your  school."  (37) 

No  sooner  had   the  divine   word    fallen  than 
Froebel  recognized  it  to  be  the  voice  of  the  God, 


252  THE   LIFE    OF   FROEBEL. 

and  .prepared  to  obey  on  the  spot.  The  two 
friends  set  out  from  Frankfort  together,  both  of 
whom  heard  the  summons.  On  July  31st  they 
reached  the  castle  of  Wartensee,  and  two  weeks 
later  received  from  the  authorities  permission  to 
start  their  new  institute. 

Thus  the  great  separation  has  taken  place,  from 
Keilhau,  from  Thuringia,  from  Germany  itself  — 
a  separation  which  is  indeed  birth .  Froebel  has 
again  gone  into  Switzerland,  moving  on  his  old 
track,  yet  with  a  new  purpose,  not  now  as  pupil 
of  Pestalozzi  but  as  the  successor  and  developer 
of  the  latter 's  work. 

In  1831  this  was,  fifteen  years  he  has  been 
connected  with  Keilhau,  which  he  must  hence- 
forth quit  and  transcend,  could  he  but  look  into 
the  Sybilline  leaves  of  the  coming  time.  Separ- 
ated, indeed,  yet  for  the  purpose  of  a  profounder 
connection ;  hence  he  may  well  write  of  this  Swiss 
journey  in  one  of  his  letters  as  "  keeping  the 
thread  of  my  life  unbroken  and  complete  within 
itself"  (see  Poesche,  Eng.  Trans.,  p.  107). 
That  is,  the  deeper  thread  of  his  life,  visible  only 
afterwards,  not  at  the  time;  for  the  outer  thread 
was  certainly  snapped  or  rather  snipped  by  re- 
morseless Atropos  with  her  shears,  that  the  new 
and  far  greater  one  might  be  spun  by  the  Sisters 
three  —  which  thread  is  now  to  be  laid  out  before 
the  reader. 


EXPATRIATION.  253 

I. 

Wartensee. 

Froebel  is  now  in  free  Switzerland,  a  great 
contrast  to  the  Germany  which  has  shaken  him 
off.  An  environment  of  freedom  lies  around  the 
castle  of  Wartensee ;  not  far  off  is  the  battle- 
field of  Sempach,  the  Swiss  Marathon,  in  which  a 
small  number  of  hardy  mountainers  asserted  their 
liberty  in  a  conflict  which  is  counted  among  the 
world's  most  memorable  battles.  It  is  the  region 

o 

of  Tell  whose  legend  bespeaks  the  character  of 
the  people  who  made  it  and  who  kept  it  alive. 
Yet  its  greatest  embodiment  was  the  work  of  a 
Weimar  poet,  Schiller,  with  whom  Froebel  was  on 
many  lines  connected. 

The  first  note  shows  the  change.  Here  we  can 
have  no  Universal  German  Institute,  though 
Froebel  speaks  only  the  German  tongue,  which 
remains  the  basic  one  in  all  his  instruction.  The 
Swiss  people  speak  French  and  Italian  as  well  as 
German,  that  is  portions  of  them ;  here  is  the 
meeting  place  of  Teutonic  and  Romanic  culture ; 
South,  North,  West  —  Italy,  Germany,  France 
interlink  and  form  a  mighty  international  knot  in 
the  mountains  of  Switzerland.  Hence  education 
cannot  be  Germanized,  but  it  can  be  Humanized 
on  this  spot ;  the  purely  natural  folk-spirit  of  Keil- 
hau  and  of  former  years  must  be  made  universal. 


254  THE    LIFE    OF   FROEBEL. 

Here  too  the  people  rule  ultimately;  Froebel 
must  now  educate  the  people.  So  he  is  whirled 
back  into  Pestalozzi's  tracks,  upon  Pestalozzi's 
own  ground.  Fifty  years  old  yet  he  is  starting 
on  a  new  career. 

And  not  only  Froebel,  but  all  Keilhau,  is  to 
take  this  Swiss  bath  ere  that  school  can  be 
revived  and  rejuvenated.  We  shall  see  Barop, 
Middendorf ,  Langethal,  not  to  speak  of  others, 
passing  into  this  new  world,  and  drinking  in 
fresh  life  from  its  mountains.  Keilhau  is  like- 
wise to1  have  its  separation  and  return,  when  it 
will  blossom  forth  into  a  wonderful  new  pros- 
perity, greater  than  ever. 

It  must  be  added  that  Switzerland  itself  was, 
on  the  whole,  ready  to  receive  these  men  and 
their  message.  Not  without  conflict,  indeed, 
still  they  were  not  rejected.  The  government 
was  at  this  time  in  enlightened  hands,  the  author- 
ities welcomed  all  illumination.  It  was  the 
period  of  the  French  Revolution  of  1830,  when 
the  old  Bourbons,  obscurantists  and  reactionar- 
ies, had  been  driven  out  of  France,  and  a  new 
order  had  begun.  The  same  breeze  swept  through 
the  Swiss  valleys  and  over  its  mountains,  giving 
inspiration  to.  the  new-coiner  from  Keilhau. 

Undoubtedly  Froebel  reproduced  Keilhau  in 
his  school  at  Wartensee.  What  else  could  he 
do?  He  puts  the  same  stress  upon  inner  devel- 
opment through  self -activity,  and  has  the  same 


EXPATRIATION.  255 

general  plan  of  study.  Then  there  is  also  to  be 
free  development,  and  so  the  question  of  free- 
dom rises  now  in  a  free  land. 

Just  here  lies  the  great  lesson  for  Froebel  and 
for  Keilhau,  the  lesson  of  freedom.  The  con- 
tradiction must  be  solved ;  the  Swiss  people  and 
the  Swiss  government  show  liberty  ruling 
through  law,  or  institutional  liberty.  No 
longer  freedom,  as  individual  caprice  on  the 
one  side,  and  despotic  authority  on  the  other,  as 
was  largely  the  case  at  Keilhau,  and  indeed  in 
Germany  itself ;  order  is  not  external  and  tyran- 
nical, but  its  very  object  is  to  secure  freedom. 
And  in  the  school  there  is  to  be  prescription 
yet  combined  with  true  liberty. 

In  the  Swiss  state,  perchance  in  the  Swiss 
mountain  air  is  the  secret  restorative  which  is  to 
heal  the  inner  rent  which  we  see  cleaving  in 
twain  the  Education  of  Man,  and  which  helped 
to  undermine  Keilhau.  To  such  a  spiritual  at- 
mosphere have  these  men  come  and  they  must  be 
made  .whole  in  it,  recovering  from  their  inner 
dualism ;  they  must  then  go  back  home,  the  entire 
set  of  them,  must  return  to  Germany  with  their 
new  health,  and  impart  it  there  to  the  extent  of 
their  ability. 

The  Institute  starts,  Schnyder  returns  soon  to 
Frankfort,  the  household  is  in  charge  of  a  young 
lady  relative  of  his,  Salesia.  The  opening  is  an- 
nounced in  the  Swiss  journals,  and  the  project  is 


256  TEE  LIFE  OF  FEOEBEL. 

brought  to  public  attention.  But  what  means 
this  sudden  hostile  noise  of  angry  tongues?  No 
sooner  is  the  enterprise  fairly  launched,  than  a 
most  violent  and  bitter  attack  is  made  in  a  Swiss 
newspaper  against  Froebel  personally,  assailing 
his  character  as  a  citizen,  as  an  educator,  and  as 
a  debt-payer.  At  first  he  thought  of  meeting 
these  calumnies  in  a  detailed  explanation,  and 
actually  wrote  an  answer,  but  concluded  not  to 
publish  it  in  full,  but  only  the  conclusion  which 
declared  that  it  would  be  "  humiliating,  degrad- 
ing and  disgraceful  to  deign  even  a  word  in 
reply." 

The  reader  of  the  preceding  life  will  under- 
stand why  Froebel  felt,  on  perusing  his  own 
defense,  that  it  would  be  better  to  keep  silent. 
He  would  have  to  admit  certain  things  and 
explain  away  certain  other  things,  which  a  skillful 
adversary  would  certainly  twist  into  a  confirma- 
tion of  the  charges.  Better,  therefore,  drop  the 
whole  matter,  and  push  on  the  great  work,  the 
positive  work  of  education,  quietly  letting  the 
Furies  of  the  past  hiss  out  their  venom,  till  they 
sink  back  into  night  whence  they  came. 

But  who  wrote  the  article?  What  was  its 
source,  its  secret  propelling  motive?  The  writer 
referred  to  Dr.  Carl  Herzog  in  Jena  as  one  of  the 
vouchers,  also  to  Schonbein,  another  Keilhau 
sore-head,  not  without  cause,  however.  But  is 
it  not  strange !  The  Keilhau  fiend  has  pursued 


ERSITY 


EXPATRIATION.  257 

Froebel  to  Switzerland  and  is  striking  him  there, 
after  having  helped  smite  Keilhau  itself  into  the 
dust.  Shortly  afterwards  a  statement  appeared 
which  was  signed  by  Herzog  and  which  assailed 
the  institute  and  also  Froebel.  Still  the  work 
went  forward,  though  not  with  the  expected  suc- 
cess ;  Keilhau  had  to  contribute  some  means  for 
its  continuance.  So  the  stroke  had  its  effect,  and 
the  old  Nemesis  failed  not  in  its  power. 

Then  came  an  inner  conflict  between  Schnyder 
and  Froebel.  They  were  quite  equal  in  authority, 
partners  in  fact.  Trouble  was  certain  to  spring 
up  sooner  or  later.  The  first  serious  difference 
arose  in  regard  to  answering  the  personal  attack  ; 
Schnyder  demands  that  Froebel  come  forward 
with  his  proofs  and  annihilate  the  accuser. 
Whereupon  Froebel  writes  to  Schnyder  a  candid 
letter,  giving  his  reasons  for  refusal.  Evidently 
in  that  letter  Schnyder  heard  of  something  which 
he  had  not  before  known. 

Still  another  difference  between  the  two  part- 
ners came  to  light.  Froebel  felt  the  lack  of  the 
woman's  soul  in  Wartensee,  which  was  a  male 
affair.  Schnyder  's  female  relative,  Fraulein 
Salesia,  had  left  the  place  in  dissatisfaction,  as 
she,  too,  missed  the  ministry  of  the  woman  in 
the  work,  and  was  apparently  not  able  to  supply 
it  herself.  Froebel  applied  to  Keilhau,  asking 
for  Elise  Froebel,  the  youngest  of  the  Froebel 
girls,  now  some  eighteen  years  old,  but  a  trained 

17 


258  THE    LIFE    OF    FROEBEL. 

Keilhau  housekeeper,  and  able  to  introduce 
domestic  order  into  that  masculine  excess  of  men 
and  boys.  To  this  arrangement  Schnyder  was 
again  opposed,  and  Middendorf  sought  to  pacify 
and  persuade  him  by  a  long  friendly  letter.  But 
the  breach  was  plainly  too  wide,  and  some  new 
step  had  to  be  taken.  Schnyder 's  distrust  had 
been  roused  and  fed  by  the  insidious  machinations 
of  the  Keilhau  diabolus  (reviler),  who  has 
already  played  such  an  important  part  in  Froe- 
bel's  life. 

So  the  avenging  Nemesis  has  pursued  Fred- 
erick Froebel  into  Switzerland,  shouting  its 
demonic  outcries  into  the  ears  of  all  who  will 
listen.  That  deed  of  his,  after  driving  him  out 
of  Germany,  is  hounding  him  still  in  his  place 
of  refuge,  and  seemingly  from  it  there  is  no 
escape.  It  environs  him  everywhere,  as  if  it 
were  the  very  atmosphere  of  himself,  which  he 
bears  with  him  in  his  flight. 

But  is  there  no  release  from  this  hellish  pursuit  ? 
Yes,  there  is,  and  that  is  what  thou,  my  reader, 
art  specially  to  see  and  to  take  unto  thyself ; 
there  is  escape  even  from  the  Furies  of  thine 
own  deed.  Froebel  is  now  heroically  putting 
them  down  through  long  and  wearisome  com- 
bat; such  is,  indeed,  the  deeper  phase  of  the 
present  Swiss  discipline,  from  which  he  will  rise 
on  this  soil  to  his  supreme  act,  the  kindergarden. 
But  not  yet ;  let  us  return. 


EXPA  TEIA  TION.  259 

The  Keilhau  people  were  interested  in  the  ex- 
periment at  Wartensee,  and  resolved  to  send 
clear-headed,  practical  Bar  op  to  take  a  look  into 
the  situation  there.  Keilhau  had  little  spare  cash 
for  traveling  or  for  good  clothes  in  which  to 
make  an  appear  anc6 ;  still  the  journey  must  be 
made.  So  young  Barop  sets  out,  with  an  old 
summer  coat-  on  his  back,  and  a  thread-bare 
frock-coat  on  his  arm,  and  with  ten  thalers  in  his 
pocket,  gaily  driving  his  span  of  shoemaker's 
nags  over  the  hills  and  through  valleys  towards 
Switzerland,  where  he  indue  time  arrives.  Com- 
ing to  the  neighborhood  of  Wartensee  he  asks 
some  inhabitants  about  those  new  school  teachers 
yonder  in  the  castle ;  the  chief  fact  known  of 
them  seems  to  have  been  that  they  were  heretics. 
Such  is  the  little  prelude  sounding  in  his  ears, 
which  will  turn  to  a  deafening  and  threatening 
hubbub,  ere  he  gets  back  home  to  Keilhau. 

It  was  at  once  plain  to  Barop  and  to  all  con- 
cerned that  Wartensee  had  to  be  given  up.  The 
castle  was  ill-fitted  for  a  schoolhouse  without  im- 
portant alterations,  which  Schnyder  refused  to 
make^or  to  permit.  Then  there  were  deeper  rea- 
sons, as  already  indicated,  chief  of  which  was 
the  dual  authority,  which  could  no  longer  be 
tolerated.  But  whither  are  they  to  go  now? 
Give  up  Switzerland  and  return  to  Keilhau,  with 
mission  unfulfilled?  ^ot  yet,  not  yet,  say  the 
governing  Powers. 


260  THE    LIFE    OF   FROEBEL. 

They  happened  to  be  sitting  in  a  tavern  not  far 
from  Wartensee  talking  over  their  struggles, 
when  three  men  present  began  to  take  a  great 
interest  in  their  conversation.  These  men  said 
they  were  merchants  from  Willisau,  a  town  not 
far  off  —  evidently  wide-awake  citizens  of  a  free 
community.  The  outcome  of  the  matter  was 
their  invitation:  "  Come  over  to  our  town,  we 
want  just  such  a  school."  (38) 

Our  friends  did  not  think  much  of  the  little 
event,  but  those  three  men  went  home  and  stirred 
up  their  fellow-citizens,  who  responded  at  once. 
The  result  was  twenty  families  of  property  united 
in  a  request  to  the  teachers  at  Wartensee,  having 
already  obtained  permission  from  the  cantonal 
government  and  selected  a  building  for  the 
school,  and  provided  forty  pupils  as  a  beginning. 
Another  providential  event  dropping  out  of 
heaven  just  in  the  nick  of  time ;  surely  we  can- 
not leave  Switzerland,  where  the  free-acting 
citizen  can  do  such  things. 

Accordingly  Froebel  takes  a  new  step  in  his 
Swiss  career,  the  transition  to  Willisau.  Schny- 
der  and  his  Wartensee  have  done  their  part,  have 
drawn  him  out  of  Germany  and  Keilhau  and  set 
him  down  in  Swiss  air  among  the  free  Swiss 
mountains,  and  have  even  brought  Keilhau  to 
this  fresh  dip  in  the  Swiss  lakes.  The  people 
begin  to  call  upon  him  and  to  support  him ;  the 
State  or  the  municipality  now  comes  to  the 


EXPATRIATION.  261 

front;  we  pass  from  kingship  and  aristocracy  to 
the  republic  as  the  bearer  of  the  new  educational 
Idea. 

II. 

Willisau. 

After  a  little  more  than  one  year's  trial,  the 
school  passed  from  Wartensee  to  Willisau. 
Froebel  himself  meanwhile  took  a  trip  back  to 
Keilhau,  and  even  went  as  far  as  Berlin.  But 
after  a  few  months  he  returned  to  Switzerland, 
this  time  bringing  his  wife.  On  the  first  of 
May,  1833,  the  pair  arrived  at  Willisau,  and  the 
school  was  formally  opened  the  next  day. 
Bar  op  was  already  on  hand,  having  prepared 
matters  for  their  reception.  In  its  methods  the 
new  institute  was  patterned  after  Keilhau;  in 
fact  the  preliminary  circular  joins  the  two  to- 
gether by  name,  Willisau  and  Keilhau  institutes, 
and  is  signed  by  Froebel  as  principal  of  both. 
Thus  the  institute  with  two  heads  passes  away, 
or  is  somehow  metamorphosed  into  one  head  for 
two  institutes. 

But  see  what  crosses  his  path  at  the  town  of 
Rudolstadt,  as  he  is  setting  out  from  his  Keilhau 
home  on  this  last  Swiss  journey.  He  goes  to  the 
police  office  to  get  his  pass,  and  whom  does  he 
meet  there?  His  deeply  estranged  nephew, 
Julius  Froebel,  co-worker  in  hate  with  demonic 
Herzog.  The  nephew  has  likewise  come  for 'a 


262  THE   LIFE    OF   FROEBEL. 

pass  to  this  same  Switzerland,  where  he  has  ob- 
tained a  position  as  teacher  in  a  school  at  Zurich, 
not,  of  course,  through  the  intercession  of  Uncle 
Frederick.  The  two  glare  at  each  other  and  sep- 
arate without  one  word  of  salutation,  truly  a 
prelude  to  those  Furies  who  have  followed  the 
Family  Froebel  in  its  flight  to  the  Swiss  moun- 
tains, pursuing  its  members  relentlessly  as  they 
did  Orestes  of  old.  Julius  has  been  on  a  visit  to 
his  mother  at  Volkstadt,  whom  the  Nemesis  of 
injured  Love  seems  to  be  avenging  with  such 
fierce  strokes ;  her  the  son  will  soon  bring  over 
to  Switzerland,  so  that  the  diabolic  situation  at 
Keilhau  will  be  exactly  duplicated  in  that  land, 
and  the  infernal  powers  of  hate  can  keep  their 
mill  running,  The  two  sides  will  be  located  near 
each  other  in  neighboring  cantons,  one  in  Zurich 
and  one  in  Lucerne.  Vain  is  the  flight  from  the 
Gods ;  there  was  no  intention  on  the  part  of 
Julius  Froebel  to  pursue  his  uncle  into  Switzer- 
land, but  a  good  position  was  offered  him  just 
there  and  just  at  that  time,  which  position  his 
necessities  required  him  to  accept.  So  he  is  sud- 
denly whirled  from  distant  Berlin  to  Swiss  Zurich 
by  the  Powers,  and  set  down  as  it  were  face  to  face 
with  his  uncle,  of  whose  wrongs  to  his  family  he 
deems  himself  the  avenger.  (39) 

But  let  us  next  cast  our  look  upon  Frederick 
Froebel,  always  the  central  figure  in  this  varied 
picture  of  human  life.  Untiring  in  his  activity 


EXPATRIATION.  263 

at  the  present  time,  he  meets  his  lot  as  if  seeking 
to  ward  off  or  to  deaden  the  blows  of  destiny 
through  work,  incessant  work,  in  whose  very 
oblivion  the  harassed  soul  often  finds  its  peace. 
Self -forgetful  labor  is  the  grand  releaser  from 
ills,  giving  to  the  hunted  human  heart  a  fresh 
plunge  into  the  fountain  of  Lethe,  especially 
when  it  is  done  for  a  great  Idea.  So  Froebel 
labors  at  his  lofty  task  unremittingly,  being  prin- 
cipal of  two  schools  now,  and  soon  of  three. 

It  is  well  to  mark  at  this  point  the  difference 
between  Keilhau  and  Willisau.  The  Swiss  school 
was  not  called  into  existence  by  the  fiat  of  Fred- 
erick Froebel,  but  by  a  body  of  citizens  of  a  free 
community.  Thus  the  institutional  setting  of  the 
two  enterprises  is  wholly  different,  in  fact  oppo- 
site —  the  one  being  autocratic  and  the  other 
democratic.  It  is  true  that  Froebel  is  autocrat  in 
his  school,  still  he  is  called  by  the  people  to  his 
position  and  authority;  what  he  had  done  is 
through  their  will.  Quite  a  lesson  is  this  for  the^ 
absolutist  Froebel,  he  too  is  going  to  school  at 
Willisau.  And  Bar  op  is  there,  learning  the 
same  lesson  which  he  will  take  back  to  Keilhau 
with  great  profit  to  himself  and  to  his  school. 
Furthermore  we  shall  see  that  all  the  other  lead- 
ing instructors  at  Keilhau  will  come  to  this  Swiss 
fountain  and  drink  of  its  waters. 

But  now  for  the  other  side,  since  there  is  a 
new  devil  assailing  this  young  paradise  at  Wil- 


264  THE   LIFE    OF   FROEBEL. 

lisau.  The  people  of  this  portion  of  Switzerland 
have  in  themselves  still  the  bitter  conflict  coming 
down  from  the  time  of  the  Reformation,  they  are 
divided  into  Catholics  and  Protestants.  So  the 
grand  religious  conflict  of  modern  Europe  rises 
and  rages  around  the  little  school  at  Willisau, 
even  to  the  point  of  endangering  the  lives  of 
the  teachers.  The  Catholic  clergy,  always  claim- 
ing the  right  of  educational  control,  grew  ex- 
tremely aggressive ;  a  Capuchin  monk  making  a 
violent  speech  to  an  inflammable  audience  on  a 
public  occasion,  came  near  precipitating  a  riot. 
Barop  relates  that  he  was  once  in  a  public  resort 
recognized  by  a  priest  as  one  of  the  teachers,  and 
was  then  and  there  charged  with  heresy.  But 
he  crushed  his  adversary  with  the  question: 
"  Tell  me,  was  Jesus  Christ  a  Protestant  or  a 
Catholic?'*  Whereupon  his  audience  actually 
applauded  him. 

Still  the  threats  continued  and  the  danger  did 
not  pass  away.  Froebel  himself  was  once  warned 
against  going  out  on  a  certain  road  by  a  friendly 
old  peasant:  "Don't  do  it,  they  are  going  to 
kill  you."  No  more  walks  over  the  mountains  at 
present;  such  was  the  admonition  of  friends,  who 
knew  the  intensity  of  the  religious  fury.  Barop 
was  sent  to  the  authorities  of  the  canton  to  ask 
for  protection.  They  were  friendly,  still  some- 
thing had  to  be  done  to  allay  the  excitement. 

Now  comes  forward  Edward  Pfyffer,  mayor  of 


EXPATRIATION.  265 

the  canton  (Lucerne),  a  Swiss  loving  both  light 
and  liberty,  and  speaks  the  fitting  word  to  Barop, 
saying,  "  Win  the  people."  But  how?  "Get 
yourself  ready  and  have  a  public  examination ; 
invite  everybody  to  see  what  you  are  doing." 
The  advice  was  followed,  the  announcement  was 
carried  by  the  press  through  all  Switzerland ;  on 
the  appointed  day  from  far  and  near  the  people 
flocked  to  Willisau;  even  delegates  were  sent 
from  some  of  the  neighboring  cantons,  such  as 
Bern  and  Zurich,  to  report  the  result.  A  mighty 
popular  outpouring  to  witness  the  great  struggle 
between  the  powers  of  Light  and  Darkness 
fought  over  again  in  the  little  town  of  Willisau : 
no  wonder  the  people  were  interested,  for  it  was 
just  their  cause. 

Early  in  the  morning  at  7  o'clock  the  exami- 
nation began,  and  lasted  till  7  in  the  evening, 
varied  with  games  of  the  boys,  and  closing  with 
gymnastic  exercises.  A  complete  triumph:  the 
high  officials  of  the  canton  in  council  made 
speeches  of  warm  commendation,  especially 
Edward  Pfyffer  could  rejoice,  he  who  had  uttered 
the  pivotal  word:  "Win  the  people,"  which 
little  breath  of  vocal  air  divinely  sent  and 
obeyed,  was  the  source  of  the  victory.  The 
educators  were  granted  certain  privileges,  and 
then  came  the  tag-end  of  a  petty  revenge :  the 
Capuchin  who  had  made  the  inflammatory 
speech  was  ordered  by  the  authorities  to  quit  the 


266  TEE   LIFE    OF   FEOEBEL. 

canton.  But  why  not  let  the  poor  devil  of  a 
monk  stay  where  he,  too,  may  learn  something! 

Such  was  Froebel's  appeal  to  the  people,  from 
whom,  indeed,  he  was  learning  more  than  he  ever 
taught,  much  as  this  was.  Not  now  has  he  to 
seek  the  favor  of  the  King  or  Duke  or  other 
potentate,  that  he  may  help  his  fellow-man,  but 
he  goes  directly  to  the  latter,  who  is  to  determine 
his  own  welfare,  and  to  employ  the  means  for  his 
own  development.  A  people,  free,  self-deter- 
mined, is  here  standing  in  the  background  of  his 
work,  and  great  is  the  lesson.  For  he  must  be- 
gin to  feel  the  difference  between  individual  or 
capricious  freedom,  which  he  has  hitherto  known, 
and  institutional  or  universal  freedom,  ordered 
and  organized,  which  he  is  now  getting  to  know. 

And  now  Barop,  who  has  been  the  leading 
spirit  in  the  stirring  events  for  many  months, 
feels  that  his  mission  is  ended,  and  that  he  must 
return  home  to  Keilhau.  He  longs  to  clasp  to 
his  bosom  his  first-born,  that  bab}^  boy  of 
his,  now  a  year  old,  whom  he  has  never  seen. 
Then  a  deeper  plan  is  fermenting  in  his  brain : 
he  believes  he  can  now  rejuvenate  Keilhau. 
From  his  Swiss  experiences  he  certainly  carries 
back  an  important  lesson.  Soon  Middendorf  and 
Langethal  will  go  to  Froebel  in  Switzerland,  in 
fact  they  cannot  stay  away  from  him;  then 
Barop  will  quietly  but  firmly  seize  the  reins  at 
Keilhau  and  turn  it  back  to  prosperity.  Quite 


EXPATRIATION.  267 

secretly  must  the  thing  be  done ;  let  Froebel  re- 
tain the  name  of  principal,  if  he  chooses ;  his  idea 
will  rule  still,  but  not  his  administration.  So 
Barop  goes  back  to  Keilhau  and  there  builds  a 
kind  of  fortress  or  place  of  refuge,  which  is 
destined  to  play  a  very  important  part  in  Froe- 
bel's  future  work. 

In  the  place  of  Barop,  Middendorf  comes  to 
Willisau,  bringing  with  him  Elise  Froebel,  young- 
est of  the  Froebel  girls.  No  great  sum  of  money 
flows  into  the  treasury,  as  the  priests  still  keep 
up  their  secret  machination  and  do  all  in  their 
power  to  deter  parents  from  sending  their  chil- 
dren to  the  school.  Middendorf  will  stay  in 
Switzerland  four  years  without  once  seeing  wife 
and  little  ones.  He  deemed  himself  a  sentinel 
doing  duty  at  a  dangerous  post  for  the  Idea; 
he  could  not  think  of  deserting  it.  Then  he  loved 
Froebel  personally  above  all  others ;  sufficient  it 
was  just  to  be  with  him,  and  to  share  his  trials, 
which  were  indeed  many.  For  in  addition  to  the 
religious  conflict  the  old  calumnies  continued, 
which  now  furnish  powder  to  the  church  fanatics 
to  be  used  against  Froebel  and  his  associates, 
the  magazine  of  malignity  being  just  over  yon- 
der at  Zurich. 

Already  the  cantonal  government  of  Bern,  the 
most  enlightened  of  the  Swiss  cantons,  had  its 
eye  upon  Froebel  and  his  work.  As  soon  as  the 
school  at  Willisau  was  fairly  established,  Bern 


268  THE    LIFE    OF   FROEBEL. 

sends  five  young  men  as  normal  students  to  Froe- 
bel  at  WiUisau.  This  was  in  1833.  The  next 
year  he  is  invited  to  conduct  a  training  class  at 
Burgdorf  (Canton  Bern),  which  ran  up  to  sixty 
pupils.  He  returned  to  Willisau  at  its  con- 
clusion, but  the  next  year  an  offer  was  made 
whereby  he  removed  permanently  to  Burgdorf 
(1835).  Leaving  Middendorf  in  charge  at 
Willisau,  he  with  his  wife  makes  the  third  Swiss 
change,  Langethal  and  wife  going  with  him,  they 
having  meantime  arrived  from  Keilhau,  which  is 
taking  a  complete  and  prolonged  Swiss  baptism 
in  the  persons  of  its  leading  instructors. 

Thus  Froebel  passes  from  the  Canton  Lucerne 
with  its  bitter  religious  dualism,  to  the  Canton 
Bern,  where  he  finds  peace  and  leisure  to  unfold 
his  coming  thought.  A  new  environment,  and  a 
new  stage  in  his  life,  of  which  the  reader  should 
carefully  note  the  results,  since  here  can  be  traced 
the  most  important  of  all  Froebel' s  transitions. 

III. 

Burgdorf. 

The  little  town  lies  in  the  valley  of  a  small 
river  called  the  Emnie,  which  divides  into  many 
little  channels  turning  many  millwheels  along  its 
course.  Above  lie  the  lofty  summits  of  the 
Bernese  Oberland,  looking  down  upon  the  smil- 
ing valley  with  its  gardens  and  cultivated  fields. 


EXPA  TRIA  TION.  269 

The  giants,  Eiger,  Jungfrau,  and  Schreckhorn, 
tower  in  the  distance.  Such  was  the  setting  of 
Nature  for  Froebel's  new  activity,  in  which  he 
seemed  very  happy.  An  exalted  inood  took 
possession  of  him,  an  inner  elevation  correspond- 
ing with  the  mountains,  for  he  was  not  weighed 
down  by  the  conflict  which  seemed  to  spring  out 
of  them  over  in  Lucerne.  An  inner  creative  up- 
heaval like  that  of  the  colossal  scenery  about 
him  starts  in  his  soul  and  brings  forth  a  new 
epoch. 

Burgdorf  has,  too,  its  educational  suggestion, 
being  associated  with  the  name  and  work  of 
Pestalozzi,  who  began  here  his  reform  of  elemen- 
tary instruction.  Thus  Froebel  is  connected 
through  the  locality  with  the  great  Swiss  educa- 
tor, of  whom  he  is  to  be  the  greatest  successor. 
Already,  at  Yverdon,  there  was  an  interlinking 
of  their  careers.  Froebel,  however,  has.  passed 
beyond  Pestalozzi' s  object-lesson  into  the  work 
of  the  self -active  will ;  he  has  made  the  pupil  not 
only  a  receiver  of  the  world  but  a  creator  of  it, 
adding  action  to  sensation.  But  now  Froebel  is 
to  take  a  step  further,  he  is  to  reach  back  of  the 
school  and  prepare  for  that;  the  little  child  is  to" 
be  wheeled  into  the  line  of  the  educational  move- 
ment of  his  race.  All  this  is  seething  mightily 
in  Froebel  at  Burgdorf. 

He  is  put  in  charge  of  little  children   for  the 
first  time ;  in  1835   he    is   appointed    director  of 


270  THE   LIFE    OF   FEOEBEL. 

the  orphanage  at  Burgdorf ,  embracing  orphans 
of  the  ages  of  four  to  six  years.  Here,  then,  is 
the  grand  new  opportunity  presenting  itself  to 
him  at  the  right  moment.  Coupled  with  the 
orphanage  is  a  kind  of  Normal  School  for  the 
teachers  of  Canton  Bern,  who  are  given  a  three 
months'  furlough  every  two  years  in  order  to 
receive  professional  instruction  under  Froebel. 

The  present  period  may  be  regarded  as  the 
highest  point  of  his  active  life.  He  is  now  the 
head  of  three  educational  institutions,  at  Keilhau, 
at  Willisau,  and  at  Burgdorf.  Through  his  posi- 
tion he  was  one  of  the  authorities  of  the  State, 
a  member  of  the  Bernese  government;  never 
before  or  afterward  did  he  hold  such  a  place  in 
the  political  order. 

But  what  has  become  of  the  hostile  Powers, 
which  seem  to  keep  pace  with  his  very  existence  ? 
Have  they  ceased  pursuit?  Now  comes  the 
curious  fact  that  the  entire  family  of  the  Froebel 
boys  with  their  mother  have  settled  in  Switzer- 
land. Their  separation  from  Keilhau  has  been 
already  noted,  and  their  deep  hostility  to  uncle 
Frederick.  In  the  beginning  of  1833  Julius, 
the  eldest,  obtained  the  position  of  teacher  in  the 
Gymnasium  of  Zurich,  and  later  he  rose  to  a 
professorship  in  the  University  of  that  city.  He 
was  a  mineralogist,  developing  quite  on  the  lines 
of  his  hated  uncle;  also  geography  and  map- 
making  were  his  specialties,  the  product  of  his 


EXPATBIATION.  271 

Keilhau  training  and  rambles.  Then  came  his 
second  brother,  Carl  Froebel,  who  obtained  a 
position  as  teacher  of  English  in  the  Industrial 
School.  The  youngest  brother  came,  too,  Theo- 
dore, and  was  a  gardener  in  Zurich.  Finally  the 
mother  and  sister  were  brought  from  Germany, 
and  so  the  whole  family  was  reunited  in  Zurich 
as  in  the  early  days  of  Keilhau. 

And  Frederick  Froebel' s  Keilhau  people  were 
coming  at  the  same  time  to  the  neighboring 
Canton  Lucerne,  to  Wartensee  and  Willisau. 
But  there  was  no  intercourse ;  both  sides  seem  to 
have  been  lifted  out  of  the  old  territory  and  set 
.down  in  the  new.  Herzog  himself  returned  home 
to  Switzerland  later  as  Professor.  The  former 
attacks  were  kept  up,  but  Froebel  seems  not  to 
have  been  much  troubled  by  them  at  Burgdorf . 
The  Canton  Bern,  whose  official  he  was,  held  his 
work  in  high  esteem ,  refusing  to  listen  to  detrac- 
tion. But  Middendorf  at  Willisau  had  the  burden 
of  the  battle,  which  required  continued  watch- 
fulness. Nor  are  the  old  enemies  of  Keilhau  in- 
active over  in  Germany,  though  Barop's  tact  and 
administrative  ability  are  bringing  forth  the 
second  great  flowering  of  the  school. 

Meanwhile  Froebel  has  become  intensely  inter- 
ested in  the  little  orphans  at  Burgdorf  from 
four  to  six  years  old.  They  occupy  his  thoughts 
and  rouse  his  creative  genius.  He  sees  that  these 
children  must  be  developed  from  within ;  knowl- 


272  THE    LIFE    OF   FEOEBEL. 

edge  is  not  to  be  hammered  into  their  heads  from 
the  outside.  He  already  grasps  the  function  of 
play  in  their  development ;  he  exercises  them  in 
games,  in  songs,  in  bodily  movements,  in  model- 
ing with  clay  and  sand;  he  also  employs  the 
story,  the  fable,  the  fairy-tale.  In  one  sense  all 
these  things  are  not  new  to  him ;  they  occur  in 
his  programme  of  Helba,  and  he  had  made  use  of 
them  long  before  at  Keilhau.  But  the  problem 
of  their  application  to  the  little  children  is  new, 
and  just  that  is  his  labor.  Something  is  want- 
ing, something  which  gives  him  no  rest — what 
is  it? 

Froebel  has  not  yet  seen  the  inner  connection 
of  his  games  and  his  materials  of  play,  and  hence 
he  cannot  order  them  into  an  educational  system. 
Now,  this  inner  connection  is  the  deepest,  most 
compelling  principle  of  his  own  soul,  as  well  as 
the  fundamental  law  of  all  education.  As  long 
as  it  is  absent  there  can  be  no  adequate  educative 
means  for  these  children,  and  he  himself  can 
have  no  peace.  Where  is  the  germ,  the  organ- 
izing center  of  all  these  diverse,  distracted  occu- 
pations? The  problem  he  carries  about  with 
him  everywhere,  it  haunts  him  in  his  walks,  per- 
chance in  his  dreams;  it  becomes  his  ghostly 
counterpart,  eternally  pursuing  him  with  its 
shadow. 

One  day  he  takes  his  walk  through  the  fields, 
with  that  spectre  of  his  thought  flitting  before 


EXPATRIATION.  273 

and  around  him,  possibly  stopping  him  now  and 
then  on  his  path.  Behold,  what  is  yonder? 
Children  playing  ball  in  the  meadow.  He  stops 
and  looks ;  that  ball-play  enters  his  fermenting 
spirit  and  unites  with  his  struggling  thought, 
whereby  a  new  idea  is  born.  We  may  hear  him 
suddenly  exclaim  within :  ' '  I  have  it !  The  ball 
is  the  child's  first  plaything,  out  of  which 
unfolds  the  cube,  which  is  the  second!  '  Thus 
he  has  seized  the  creative  germ  of  the  kinder- 
garden,  the  inner  central  starting-point  of.  the 
whole  system  of  Play -gifts.  Herewith  Froebel 
the  schoolmaster  has  vanished,  and  Froebel  the 
kindergardner  is  born. 


is 


<-/n 


Booh 

T 


If  we  cast  a  look  back  at  the  preceding  Book 
(the  second)  and  grasp  its  total  sweep,  we  shall 
see  it  as  a  whole  to  mean  the  evolution  of  the 
schoolmaster  Froebel  into  the  kindergardner 
Froebel.  Starting  at  Frankfort  with  Gruner's 
winged  words,  "Be  a  teacher,"  he  has  gone 
through  manifold  pedagogic  stages  —  subordinate 
instructor,  tutor,  normal  student  under  Pestalozzi, 
till  he  becomes  principal  at  Keilhau,  enthroned, 
dethroned,  expatriated  —  assuredly  a  man  of 
divers  destinies.  The  whole,  however,  has  been 
his  training  till  he  be  born  a  kindergardner,  and 
therewith  the  kindergarden  itself  be  born. 
(274) 


THE  KINDEEGAEDNEE  FEOEBEL.     275 

So  we  take  the  bearing  of  what  has  gone  be- 
fore us.  Keilhau  was  the  mighty  discipline  of 
Frederick  Froebel  for  bringing  the  man  out  of  his 
inadequate  view  of  life  and  of  the  school  in  order 
that  he  become  the  founder  of  the  new  education. 
When  Keilhau  has  done  its  work  for  him,  it  slips 
out  of  his  hands  in  spite  of  all  his  efforts  to  hold 
it  fast.  If  Keilhau  had  been  a  success  we  had 
never  had  the  kindergarden ;  unless  Froebel  had 
been  scourged  by  misfortune  and  disciplined  by 
failure,  he  could  not  have  done  his  later  work. 
A  castigation  of  the  Gods  it  was  till  he  performed 
his  allotted  task  in  the  world,  which  was  not 
merely  to  establish  a  boy's  school  at  Keilhau,  but 
to  found  the  kindergarden.  With  stripes  he 
goes  forth  from  his  cherished  institution  after 
many  years'  labor  over  it  —  a  bitter  parting. 
Not  is  he  to  return  till  he  has  the  New  Idea  (the 
kindergarden)  in  his  head  and  is  ready  to  devote 
himself  to  realizing  that  and  that  alone.  When 
he  has  finished  his  apprenticeship  in  Switzerland, 
he  will  get  back  to  Keilhau  once  more  and  his 
beloved  Thuringia  —  whereof  the  coming  Book 
will  furnish  the  record. 

Still  Keilhau  has  its  marvelous  glory,  even 
through  failure.  Barop  will  take  up  the  school 
after  Froebel,  will  heal  its  inner  trouble  and  make 
it  a  prosperous  enterprise.  And  yet  Keilhau  a 
success  under  Barop,  is  not  for  a  moment  to  be 


276  THE    LIFE    OF    FROEBEL. 

compared  with  Keilhau  a  failure  under  Froe- 
bel.  With  the  best  intention,  very  few  of  us 
will  ever  care  very  much  for  successful  Keilhau. 
There  was  a  just  ground  for  its  disintegration ; 
the  suspicion  against  it  on  the  part  of  the  estab- 
lished authority  was  not  wholly  without  founda- 
tion. Still  it  performed  its  task  and  will  forever 
have  its  place  in  the  history  of  education ;  it  broke 
a  path  out  of  the  old  training  of  the  child  into 
the  new,  in  spite  of,  possibly  by  virtue  of,  its 
faults. 

Thus  Froebel  enters  upon  what  we  have  called 
the  third  Period  in  the  great  total  sweep  of  his 
life;  the  third  and  last  it  is,  continuing some.six- 
teen  years  or  more,  to  the  end  of  his  days.  If 
we  should  seek  to  express  the  supreme  psychical 
fact  of  this  Period,  we  would  say  that  it  shows 
Froebel' s  Return,  his  going  back  to  his  begin- 
ning, and  his  uniting  that  with  his  ending. 
Thus  he  rounds  out  his  terrestrial  existence  into 
a  complete  Whole. 

It  is  curious  to  note  that  this  Return  of  Froe- 
bel is  both  outer  and  inner,  it  sweeps  through 
Space,  Time  and  Spirit.  There  is  the  external 
spatial  Return  to  Germany,  to  Thuringia,  yea,  to 
Keilhau ;  then  there  is  the  deeper,  temporal  Re- 
turn to  his  childhood  and  to  his  idealized  mother ; 
finally  there  is  the  spiritual  Return  to  the  primal 
source  of  all  human  development,  "  to  the  foun- 


THE  KINDEEGAEDNEE  FEOEBEL.  277 

tarn-head  of  the  education  of  mankind,"  to  the 
race-child,  as  it  were,  for  a  new  training.  Froe- 
bel  himself  was  aware  of  this  profound  spiritual 
cycle  in  his  life,  and  proclaims  his  consciousness 
of  it,  when  he  was  nearly  sixty  years  old,  in  the 
following  words :  ' '  After  progressing  through 
the  vast  orbit  of  almost  two  generations,  I  have 
been  carried  round  to  the  point  of  commence- 
ment, to  the  fountain-head  of  the  education  of 
mankind,  but  with  the  significant  addition  of  a 
full  consciousness  of  my  task."  (Letter  to 
Madam  Schmidt,  under  date  of  March  21st, 
1841,  in  Poesche,  Eng.  Trans.,  p.  111.) 

The  third  Period  has,  accordingly,  one  main 
underlying  idea  and  purpose  —  the  kindergar- 
den,  which  works  through  it  and  determines  it  at 
every  point.  Moreover,  we  can  distinguish  three 
chief  stages  in  its  movement:  the  conception, 
the  realization,  and  the  propagation  of  the  kin- 
dergarden,  each  of  which  will  make  a  chapter  of 
the  forthcoming  third  Book. 

As  already  indicated,  the  transition  into  the 
present  Period  takes  place  at  Burgdorf,  which 
thus  has  two  sides ;  or  we  may  say  that  there 
are  two  Burgdorf  s  in  this  biography  of  Froebel, 
one  before  and  one  during  his  conception  of  the 
kindergarden,  divMing  that  little  town  just  in  the 
heart  of  it  forevermore. 

So  let   us    again   take    courage,    my   patient 


278  THE    LIFE    OF   FROEBEL. 

reader,  and  buckle  down  to  this  last  stretch* of 
our  narratiVe,  which  contains  the  real  end  and 
aim  of  this  whole  writing,  without  which,  indeed, 
the  present  Life  of  Froebel  would  never  have 
been  composed,  as  having  little  or  no  meaning 
for  the  great  future,  and  which  ought  to  be  the 
most  interesting  and  profitable  part  to  thee  of  all 
this  biography. 


CHAPTER    FIRST. 

THE  KINDERGARDEN  CONCEIVED. 

In  the  summer  of  1835  Froebel  with  his  wife 
settled  at  Btirgclorf .  The  previous  year  he  had 
given  there  a  normal  course  for  Swiss  teachers, 
but  after  it  was  over  he  returned  to  Willisau. 
At  the  mentioned  time,  however,  he  removed 
permanently  to  his  new  position,  which  was  that 
of  director  of  the  orphanage  at  Burgdorf . 

The  present  year  (1835-6)  was  doubtless  the 
important  year  of  his  life  in  its  creative  aspect. 
His  greatest  thought  opened  and  came  to  bloom ; 
he  seems  to  have  been  in  a  kind  of  continuous 
productive  ecstasy.  His  writings  during  this 
period  have  a  peculiar  note,  prophetic  and  far- 
reaching,  yet  often  hazy  and  uncertain  of  mean- 
ing; his  very  soul  became  pregnant  with  a 

(279) 


280  THE    LIFE    OF   FEOEBEL. 

universe  which  struggled  within  him  for  birth, 
but  which  he  could  not  fully  somehow  utter  — 
without  form  it  largely  was,  but  by  no  means 
void. 

He  has  been  four  years  in  Switzerland,  years 
full  of  discipline  and  instruction ;  one  more  year 
he  must  serve  at  Burgdorf ,  when  the  Swiss  ap- 
prenticeship will  end.  He  will  give  up  his  situ- 
ation in  an  established  order,  which  hampers 
him,  and  will  devote  himself  fully  and  freely  to 
the  new-born  Idea.  No  more  school  work,  no 
more  normal  training ;  he  has  made  the  transi- 
tion into  his  new  vocation.  To  be  sure  there  is 
also  an  external  cause  driving  him  from  Switzer- 
land, the  sickness  of  his  wife ;  but  this  cause  is 
only  the  outer  impact  into  his  inner  destiny. 

Still,  before  the  great  return  is  made  to  Keil- 
hau  and  to  Germany,  we  must  see  what  he  is  going 
to  take  back  with  him;  we  must  consider  the 
Conception  of  the  Kindergarden,  as  it  rose  in  his 
mind  at  Burgdorf  among  the  orphans. 

I. 

The  Child's   First  Play-Gift. 

Already  we  have  noticed  the  effect  upon  Froe- 
bel  when  he  once  saw  some  children  playing  ball 
at  Burgdorf.  A  very  common,  indeed,  trivial 
event,  yet  it  bore  to  him  the  message  of  the  God ; 
hundreds  of  times  he  had  seen  and  done  the 


THE  KINDERGAEDEN  CONCEIVED.         281 

same  act  without  hearing  any  divine  voice.  But 
now  he  is  ready,  yea,  is  waiting  for,  and  uncon- 
sciously praying  for  the  supernal  appearance, 
when  just  before  him  it  stands  and  speaks  to  him 
the  providential  word  at  the  right  moment.  So 
with  Homeric  eyes  we  may  behold  the  God  out- 
side coming  down  from  Olympus  (or  from  yon- 
der Schreckhorn  towering  in  the  distance  above 
Burgdorf )  and  responding  to  the  God  inside  that 
tall,  spare  man  who  has  stopped  along  the  road 
to  look  at  children  playing  ball  in  the  meadow. 
Such  was  the  small  occurrence  which  Froebel 
himself  has  indicated  as  the  birth-point  of  the 
idea  of  the  kindergarden  Play-gifts,  which  on 
the  spot  flashed  through  his  brain,  if  not  an 
organized  system,  at  least  an  organizing  prin- 
ciple. Yet  much  had  to  be  prepared  ere  such  a 
world-creating  flash  could  produce  its  result. 

The  meaning  of  the  Sphere  or  Ball  had  been 
a  matter  over  which  he  had  long  brooded.  At 
the  University  of  Gottingen  (1811)  he  had  re- 
garded it  as  a  kind  of  central  or  creative  prin- 
ciple of  the  Cosmos.  Later,  atKeilhau,  he  notes 
its  educative  value  in  his  Aphorisms,  and  he 
eeuples  it  with  the  Cube  genetically  in  the  Edu- 
cation of  Man  (1826).  Already  he  had  em- 
ployed both  these  forms  as  outer  symbols 
to  unfold  the  inner  spirit,  or  Ego.  But 
when  he  saw  these  children  playing  ball, 
some  point  in  the  "game,  some  word  or  act 


282  THE    LIFE    OF   FROEBEL. 

waked  his  sleeping  genius  (as  old  Ulysses 
was  once  roused  from  his  slumber  by  the  ball- 
play  of  Nausicaa's  maidens),  and  at  once  he 
spake  to  himself :  4 '  There !  I  see  it !  That  is 
just  what  I  have  been  long  in  search  of.  I  shall 
now  employ  Ball  and  Cube  as  educative  play- 
things for  the  little  child,  for  my  orphans.  I 
shall  put  them  together  as  one  process  or  one 
Play-gift;  out  of  this  I  see  developing  a  whole 
series  of  forms,  through  which  the  child  playing, 
will  enter  the  creative  workshop  of  Nature  her- 
self, and  thus  unfold  into  his  spiritual  inherit- 
ance." 

Such  was  Froebel's  first  conception  or  genetic 
intuition  of  his  Originative  Play -gift  (usually 
called  his  second  Gift),  which  is  the  very  germ 
and  creative  source  whence  flows  the  whole 
series  of  his  Play-gifts,  which  constitute  the 
center  of  the  kindergarden  system.  Out  of  the 
Sphere  is  evolved  the  Cube  as  its  opposite  and 
outer  counterpart;  to  these  two  main  forms 
(Sphere  and  Cube)  will  be  added  the  third  (the 
Cylinder)  in  the  course  of  time.  The  Originative 
Play-gift  we  call  it,  as  the  original  and  foun- 
tain-head of  all  the  so-called  Gifts  and  Occu- 
pations, and  it  is  the  central  breast- work  of  the 
kindergarden  fortress. 

Froebel  has  now  gotten  his  starting-point 
from  which  he  can  begin  to  arrange  the  little 
world  of  materials  already  gathered  by  him. 


THE  KINDERGARDEN  CONCEIVED.         283 

Out  of  this  mass,  more  or  less  chaotic  in  his 
soul,  the  divine  fiat  of  the  Cosmos  has  been 
heard  :  Let  there  be  order.  And  also  the  order- 
ing principle  has  been  revealed,  so  that  the  work 
of  construction  may  begin.  (40) 

The  Play -gift  having  been  thus  conceived,  he 
is  at  the  same  time  driven  to  another  kindred 
conception,  destined  to  be  of  vast  significance  in 
his  system. 

II. 

Life's  Renewal  —  The  Play-song. 

In  these  autumnal  days  at  Burgdorf ,  probably 
on  account  of  the  incessant  working  and  ferment- 
ing of  his  new  conception,  Froebel  seems  to  have 
fallen  into  a  kind  of  frenzy  of  productive  energy. 
The  fit  lasted  through  the  holidays  and  reached 
over  into  the  spring  of  1836  apparently,  and  it 
manifests  itself  especially  in  a  document  of  his 
which  belongs  to  the  early  days  of  the  new  year 
and  bears  the  title :  "  The  year  1836  demands  a 
renewal  of  life."  In  this  composition  Froebel 
speaks  like  a  man  intoxicated  with  his  own  crea- 
tive thought.  The  motive  of  the  writing  lies 
persistently  hidden,  yet  always  with  an  outlook 
upon  some  event  which  is  happening  or  is  ex- 
pected to  happen,  in  the  fullness  of  time. 

The  central  fact  with  him  is  the  Family,  as  it 
manifests  itself  in  the  mother  and  child.  This 
fact  he  contemplates  in -a  kind  of  adoration,  and 


284  THE    LIFE    OF    FBOEBEL. 

repeatedly  couples  it  with  the  Madonna  and  the 
Christ-child.  Various  incidents  of  the  sacred 
story  —  the  Annunciation,  the  Lily,  the  Holy 
Family  —  are  interwoven  in  his  writings  of  the 
Burgdorf  period.  He  shows  often  a  vein  of  mys- 
ticism and  ecstasy,  which  recalls  the  medieval 
devotee  of  the  Blessed  Virgin. 

Some  occurrence  in  life  has  roused  his  emo- 
tional nature  in  its  deepest  depths,  directing  and 
coloring  all  his  thoughts.  An  intimate,  personal 
throb  of  the  heart  we  feel  in  his  dark  allusions ; 
though  we  know  not  the  cause,  we  respond  to 
the  secret  thrill. 

To  this  mood  of  Froebel  at  this  time  we  ascribe 
the  first  germ,  in  fact  the  very  conception  of  the 
Mother  Play-song,  which  puts  the  mother  and 
child  at  the  center  of  a  grand  scheme  of  education. 
A  new  spiritual  development  of  humanity  is  the 
object.  Only  the  germ  now  it  is,  not  yet  un- 
folded by  any  means ;  some  five  years  must  pass 
ere  this  primordial  conception  can  fully  realize 
itself. 

It  is  true  that  Froebel  has  had  much  antece- 
dent preparation  for  creating  just  this  Mother 
Play-song.  Comenius  and  Pestalozzi  before 
him,  had.  placed  the  mother  at  the  center  of 
domestic  education.  Then  at  Keilhau  and  else- 
where, he  had  gathered  a  good  deal  of  material 
from  the  folk-lore  of  his  people,  which  is  in  due 


THE  KINDEEGABDEN  CONCEIVED.         285 

time  to  be  wrought  over  into  the  Mother  Play- 
song. 

Still,  there  was  needed  the  mighty  creative  im- 
pulse roused  to  its  full  energy  in  the  soul  ere  the 
man  could  start  the  germinal  thought  which  was 
to  unfold  into  the  Mother  Play-song.  This  hap- 
pened at  Burgdorf ,  in  1835-6.  It  is  no  wonder 
that  Froebel  refers  to  the  year  1835  as  the  most 
remarkable  in  the  history  of  his  life  —  veritably 
his  annus  mirabilis.  In  Burgdorf  he  reaches  the 
highest  point  of  his  purely  creative  power,  for 
here  he  produces  the  Play -gift  and  the  Play-song, 
to  which  his  life  heretofore  has  gradually 
ascended,  and  which  his  life  afterwards  will 
unfold  and  propagate.  So  he  now  becomes 
Froebel  the  kindergardner,  evolving  out  of  and 
sloughing  off  Froebel  the  schoolmaster. 

The  book  of  Mother  Play-songs  was  the  favor- 
ite of  Madam  Henriette  Froebel,  who  wrote  some 
of  its  verses'  and  took  a  great  interest  in  its  prog- 
ress up  to  the  time  of  her  death.  Froebel  him- 
self regarded  it  as  a  kind  of  monument  to  her, 
and  so  spoke  of  it  to  the  end  of  his  days.  It 
was  indeed  her  book,  very  intimately  connected 
with  her  life  and  experience. 

Thus  the  Play-song  of  the  mother  and  child, 
sister  of  the  Play-gift  in  the  kindergarden  fam- 
ily, is  born  at  Burgdorf  during  this  fertile  year, 
truly  the  highest  genetic  epoch  of  Froebel' s 
entire  career.  (41) 


286  THE    LIFE    OF   FROEBEL. 

III. 

What  Shall  I  Do  With  It? 

The  grand  conception  is  born  in  his  mind ;  the 
next  question  is,  What  shall  I  do  with  it? 
Whither  shall  I  go  to  realize  it?  He  could  not 
see  the  means  in  Switzerland  amid  the  varied 
duties  of  his  position ;  he  wished  to  be  free  of 
his  routine  in  order  to  carry  out  unhindered  his 
new  plan.  Moreover,  the  school,  as  such,  had 
become  a  burden  to  him,  and  for  children  of 
school-age  he  had  largely  lost  his  interest;  he 
was  absorbed  in  infancy,  the  period  before 
school-age,  and  its  educational  demands.  The 
schoolmaster  has  quite  vanished.  So  he  can 
no  longer  stay  in  Burgdorf,  or  even  in  Swit- 
zerland; the  Swiss  epoch  of  his  life  has  given 
its  discipline,  and  come  to  an  end. 

The  later  portion  of  his  essay  on  the  "  Ee- 
newal  of  Life  ' '  speaks  of  emigration  as  a  part 
of  his  scheme.  He  had  already  passed  through 
a  stage  of  emigration  when  he  went  from  Ger- 
many over  into  Switzerland.  The  broadening 
effect,  the  restorative  power  of  such  a  step  is 
present  to  his  mind.  He  sees  the  need  and  the 
significance  of  separation  from  home  and  coun- 
try—  for  a  time  at  least  —  that  estrangement 
through  which  the  human  soul  has  to  pass  in 
order  to  reach  its  higher  self,  its  greater  destiny. 

The  country  to  which  he  thinks  of  emigrating 


THE  KINDEEGAEDEN  CONCEIVED.        287 

is  North  America,  where  is  a  new  land,  a  new 
world,  fit  home  for  the  new  Idea.  The  social 
and  political  fixity  of  aged  Europe  is  not  favor- 
able to  progress ;  the  conventional,  the  estab- 
lished, the  transmitted,  is  too  powerful;  the 
f  ormable  element  in  man  has  become  crystallized 
in  that  old  world. 

Such  was  his  first  impulse,  giving  way  to  his 
impatience,  perchance  to  his  former  feeling 
against  his  land's  institutions  and  law,  against 
the  established  order  in  general.  But  this  is 
just  what  he  is  to  recover  from  by  his  Swiss  ex- 
perience ;  the  old  idea  of  freedom  as  caprice  is 
to  be  supplanted  by  the  new  idea  of  ordered 
freedom.  Therefore  his  true  movement  is  not 
to  flee  from  the  established  but  to  return  to  it, 
to  become  reconciled  with  it,  and  then  to  trans- 
form it,  in  fine  to  inoculate  the  old  stock  with 
the  fresh  germ,  with  the  new  Idea.  The  going 
to  America  would  have  been  a  further  and  a 
deeper  flight  from  his  institutional  world  than 
the  going  to  Switzerland.  Not  in  that  direction 
lies  his  true  development ;  he  must  now  return. 

Then  Froebel  was  a  German,  speaking  the 
German  tongue  alone ;  he  could  never  have  had 
a  ready  vehicle  of  communication  with  Anglo- 
Saxon  peoples.  Also  he  had  not  their  social 
background,  he  did  not  know  their  folk-spirit  as 
he  did  that  of  his  native  land.  We  hold,  there- 
fore, that  it  was  a  wise  thing  that  he  did  not 


288  THE    LIFE    OF   FROEBEL. 

carry  out  his  purpose  of  coming  to  the  United 
States.  Only  a  deeper  estrangement,  from 
which  he  could  hardly  have  recovered,  would 
have  been  caused  in  his  spirit;  whereas  he  now 
is  ready  to  heal  the  old  one  by  a  return  and  recon- 
ciliation with  his  country. 

Still  it  is  curious  to  note  how  he  always  thought 
of  America  w'hen  German  conditions  became  too 
unfriendly  or  oppressive.  In  the  Thirties  many 
cultivated  Germans  emigrated  to  the  Mississippi 
Valley,  their  descendants  are  still  found  in  Illi- 
nois and  Missouri.  Froebel  felt  the  same  spirit. 
Then  after  the  political  upheaval  of  1848, 
there  was  another  grand  German  hegira  to  the 
United  States,  of  which  we  again  find  echoes  in 
Froebel.  Finally  when  the  great  blow  fell  upon 
him,  the  suppression  of  kindergardens  by  Prus- 
sia, he  thought  for  the  last  time  about  emigrating 
to  America,  when  he  was  in  his  70th  year,  and  in 
the  same  year  he  died. 

So  the  scheme  of  emigration  floats  before  him 
entrancingly  at  Burgdorf ,  and  lures  him  across 
the  ocean.  But  he  finally  comes  to  himself  and 
says:  "  Here  or  nowhere  is  America,"  with  one 
of  Goethe's  characters  in  Wilhelm  Meister.  The 
illness  of  his  wife  also  determines  him  to  leave 
his  Swiss  exile  for  home. 

Accordingly  the  next  step  is  the  Return,  an 
outer  spatial  Return  to  Fatherland,  which,  how- 
ever, has  its  inner  spiritual  counterpart  in  the 


THE  KINDERGAEDEN  CONCEIVED.        289 

Return  to  his  own  childhood,  yea  to  the  child- 
hood of  the  Race,  the  fountain-head  of  all  educa- 
tion. Bearing  in  his  brain  and  in  his  heart  those 
two  young  Conceptions  of  his,  the  Play-gift  and 
the  Play-song,  behold  him  setting  out  once  more 
on  a  new  career. 

IV. 

Return  to  Germany. 

When  the  warm  days  of  1836  had  come,  and 
traveling  was  a  delight,  Froebel  with  his  wife 
quit  Switzerland  forever  and  turned  his  face  to- 
ward Germany.  In  June  we  find  him  already  at 
Berlin,  where  he  stayed  three  months,  arranging 
matters  in  reference  to  the  estate  of  his  wife, 
whose  mother  had  recently  died.  While  he  is 
detained  on  this  business,  his  thoughts  are 
deeply  occupied  with  his  new  work.  He  develops 
more  fully  his  fundamental  principle,  and  puts 
his  materials  into  a  more  complete  shape ;  he 
composes  what  may  be  called  his  first  kindergar- 
den  essays,  though  he  must  have  begun  writing 
down  his  reflections  on  the  same  topic  at  Burg- 
dorf. 

The  chief  object  of  interest  to  him  at  Berlin 
was  the  day-nurseries,  in  which  little  children 
were  cared  for.  This  was  along  the  line  of  his 
present  absorbing  thought,  and  so  he  looked  into 
the  matter  with  great  attention.  Something  of 
the  kind  had  been  started  in  Berlin  as  far  back  as 

19 


290  THE   LIFE    OF   FROEBEL. 

1819.  The  purpose  of  the  day-nursery  (creche) 
was  mainly  to  attend  to  children  whose  mothers 
had  gone  out  to  work  for  the  day;  it  was  a 
benevolent  institution,  not  educational,  and 
usually  more  benevolent  to  the  parent  than  to 
the  child. 

There  is  no  doubt  that  Froebel  through  his 
present  experience  was  led  to  assert  stoutly  that 
his  new  institution  was  not  charitable,  but  educa- 
tive, not  merely  for  the  children  of  the  poor, 
but  for  all,  rich  and  poor;  it  was  universal. 
Such  was  the  distinction  which  he  now  made  and 
held  to  firmly  afterwards.  His  games,  gifts,  oc- 
cupations, are  to  train  the  child,  not  merely  to 
amuse  him ;  their  very  essence  is  their  adaptation 
to  unfold  his  spirit. 

It  is  true  that  Froebel  had  precursors  in  this 
idea.  There  was  Oberlin,  the  so-called  apostle 
of  Steinthal,  who  established  in  1779  the  first  in- 
fant home ;  then  came  the  work  of  the  Scotch 
weaver,  James  Buchanan,  with  his  infant  schools, 
which  spread  throughout  Great  Britain,  of  which 
the  first  started  in  1816  at  New  Lanark,  under 
the  auspices  of  Owen.  This  infant  school  had 
also  the  idea  of  discipline  and  training,  and  it 
emploved  games  and  songs,  but  in  no  sense  did 
it  possess  the  ordered  instrumentalities  of  Froe- 
bel. So  we  see  that  the  kindergarden  is  the 
flowering  of  a  thought  which  was  already  germi- 


THE  KIXDKBGAKDEN   CONCEIVED.        291 

nating  in  the  time,  and  was  shooting  buds  in  a 
number  of  places  over  Europe. 

In  Berlin  another  question  was  anxiously  dis- 
cussed by  Froebel :  Where  shall  I  plant  the  new 
institution?  In  Germany,  certainly,  but  at  what 
point?  Berlin  was  considered,  -but  there  he  had 
no  support ;  in  fact,  he  felt  no  great  congeniality 
with  the  place ;  he  was  not  a  Prussian,  and  he 
could  not  forget  the  fact  that  Prussia  had  treated 

O 

Keilhau  with  suspicion  and  worried  the  Duke  of 
Meiningen  about  its  supposed  demagogic  tenden- 
cies. Then  Prussia  and  Switzerland  are  quite 
the  opposites  of  each  other,  politically  as  well  as 
territorially ;  they  represent  the  extremes,  autoc- 
racy and  democracy,  and  Froebel  took  the  mid- 
dle ground.  That  located  him  in  his  beloved 
Thuringia,  between  South  and  North,  and  joy- 
fully set  him  down  in  his  home  and  the  scene 
of*  his  former  activity.  Moreover,  it  took  him 
out  of  the  city  and  gave  him  the  country, 
the  true  environment  for  his  enterprise  in  its 
infancy. 

So  back  to  Keilhau  he  goes,  to  his  educational 
starting-point,  after  the  Swiss  separation.  We 
find  him  there  December  1st,  1836,  writing  to 
Langethal  in  Switzerland  a  letter  in  which  occurs 
the  passage :  "  Since  leaving  you  I  have  been  at 
work  uninterruptedly,  constructing,  shaping, 
developing  the  fundamental  idea  of  my  life." 

But  at  Keilhau  all  is  not  smooth  sailing  for 


292  THE   LIFE    OF   F ROE  BEL. 

him.  He  demands  money  for  his  new  Idea  from 
Barop,  who  has  control  and  under  whonr  the 
school  has  risen  to  financial  prosperity.  Here 
Barop  draws  the  line:  so  much  and  no  more. 
Froebel  insisted  upon  his  right  of  control,  but 
Barop  again  firmly  held  the  reins  which  had  years 
ago  dropped  from  Froebel' s  hands.  Faint  echoes 
of  a  hot  time  at  Keilhau  during  these  days  have 
come  down  to  us;  Froebel,  with  fire  in  his  tem- 
per, and  imperious  by  nature,  stormed  and  raved  at 
the  limit  put  upon  him  in  the  school  which  he  had 
founded ;  all  to  no  purpose.  It  is  said  by  friends 
of  both  that  he  even  cursed  (venviinscht)  Barop, 
who,  however,  did  not  flinch,  and  whom  we  may 
hear  saying:  "You  shall  not  wreck  this  school 
again  and  reduce  our  families  to  beggary.  Still 
I  shall  help  you." 

Froebel  does  not  get  hold  of  Keilhau  and 
never  will  again.  The  result  is  he  quits  it  and 
goes  to  the  neighboring  village  of  Blankenburg, 
where  Barop  rents  for  him  a  house  which  had 
been  an  old  powder  mill.  Evidently  some  kind 
of  a  compromise;  Barop  furnishes  a  part  of  the 
funds  and  Froebel  has  a  little  money  from  his 
wife's  estate;  with  such  a  financial  outfit,  cer- 
tainly not  great,  the  enterprise  is  to  be  launched. 
In  this  struggle  at  Keilhau 'it  is  said  that  Froebel 
afterwards  confessed  that  Barop  was  right,  in 
which  opinion  the  reader  will  be  apt  to  agree 
with  him. 


THE  KINDERGAKDEN  CONCEIVED.         293 

Still,  in  spite  of  all  drawbacks,  Froebel  has 
made  the  Return  to  his  native  land,  to  his  own 
Thuringia,  where  he  felt  most  at  home.  If  not 
exactly  in  Keilhau,  he  is  in  its  neighborhood ; 
the  Powers  have  clearly  decreed  that  he  cannot 
become  its  principal,  or  administer  its  affairs. 
Such  a  business  might  turn  him  away  from  his 
great  new  end,  which  he  is  henceforth  to  pursue, 
single-hearted  and  single-handed. 

Back  to  infancy  he  has  come,  back  to  himself 
at  the  starting-point  of  life ;  back  to  the  mother, 
the  first  educator,  he  has  reached,  to  her  who 
is  now  to  be  the  center  of  his  work,  and  whom 
he  is  going  to  train  to  her  vocation.  That  ideal 
mother  of  his  childhood  (he  had  no  actual 
mother)  is  to  be  made  real;  so  he  at  the  age  of 
fifty-five  wheels  around  to  the  beginning  of 
himself  and  of  the  Race. 

At  the  opening  of  spring  in  the  year  1837, 
with  the  rejuvenescence  of  Nature,  Froebel  \ 
was  stationed  in  the  old  powder-mill  at  Blank- 
enburg,  prepared  to  exploit  the  new  Idea. 
Here  the  first  kindergarden  begins,  which, 
hitherto  chiefly  a  Conception,  is  now  to  move 
forward  to  Realization.  But  that  wonderful  old 
powder-mill  at  Blankenburg,  hired  for  him  by 
Barop,  because  he  apparently  had  neither  money 
nor  credit  in  these  parts !  Soon  from  its  de- 
serted walls  is  to  proceed  a  new  kind  of  explosion 
world-encompassing,  and  increasing  in  mighti- 
ness as  its  detonations  roll  down  Time.  (42) 


CHAPTER  SECOND. 

THE  K1NDERQARDEN  REALIZED. 

In  the  previous  chapter  we  saw  the  kinder- 
garden  conceived,  born  in  the  brain  of  Frederick 
Froebel  at  Burgdorf .  Now  we  are  to  see  it  real- 
ized, put  into  the  world,  and  set  to  work  there. 
The  idea  is  to  take  on  body,  its  hitherto  scattered 
parts  are  to  be  united  into  a  whole,  into  a  sys- 
tem, which,  if  not  entirely  complete,  will  be  com- 
plete enough  to  constitute  the  permanent  working 
organism  of  the  kindergarden. 

This  new  unfolding  of  it  took  place  at  Blank- 
enburg,  which  witnessed  the  beginning  and  end 
of  the  present  period.  Seven  years  it  lasted, 
from  1837  to  1844,  till  both  Froebel  and  the 
kindergarden  were  ready  for  its  propagation.  He 
was  55  years  old  when  he  entered  upon  this 
(294) 


THE  KINDERGARDEN  REALIZED.          295 

Blankenburg  period  and  opened  his  first  kin- 
dergarden.  The  practical  side  of  his  creative 
power  he  exerts  now,  testing,  evolving,  con- 
structing his  greatest  work. 

Still  this  is  not  accomplished  without  a  consid- 
erable crop  of  misfortunes  and  mistakes.  He 
will  seek  to  plant  before  the  seed  is  ripe,  and  will 
be  driven  back  to  his  toil  by  failure.  He  will 
attempt  to  establish  a  great  central  institution  ere 
he  has  his  system  ready  for  such  a  step ;  the  result 
will  be  a  providential  blow  which  will  send  him 
reeling  back  to  complete  his  task.  Poverty  will 
pinch  him  black  and  blue,  still  he  will  manfully 
endure  and  perform  his  mighty  labors.  His 
bosom  companion  will  be  torn  from  him,  but 
though  stunned,  he  cannot  be  thwarted.  Strong- 
hearted  man  that  he  is,  when  felled  to  the  earth, 
he  cannot  be  kept  from  getting  up  again.  So 
the  fates  of  human  existence  will  weave  their  re- 
versible threads  into  the  fabric  of  his  life  at 
Blankenburg  with  many  an  up  and  down  and 
criss-cross,  till  the  cycle  of  his  years  be  rounded 
and  his  work  there  be  done. 

From  Burgdorf  to  Blankenburg,  then,  we 
pass  —  from  the  thought  to  the  deed,  from  the 
Conception  to  the  Realization.  Moreover,  Burg- 
dorf was  an  orphanage,  a  charity,  paid  for  by  the 
State,  and  under  its  control ;  Blankenburg  is  to  be 
a  free  lance,  with  the  object  of  imparting  the  new 
education  to  all,  rich  and  poor.  So  we  also  pass 


296  THE    LIFE    OF   FEOEBEL. 

from  the  benevolent  to  the  educative  school  for 
little  children,  which  is  ultimately  to  be  supported 
by  the  State,  not  as  a  charitable  institution,  but 
as  an  integral  part  of  a  system  of  Public  Instruc- 
tion. 

I. 

First  Years  at  Blankenburg. 

So  Froebel  has  taken  position  in  his  Blanken- 
burg, or  Shining  Castle,  which  is  veritably  to 
illuminate  the  world.  Like  a  medieval  knight 
he  has  his  Burg  or  Castle  from  which  he  sallies 
forth  in  full  panoply  against  the  Powers  of  Dark- 
ness. The  village  which  goes  by  the  name  of 
Blankenburg  is  a  romantic  spot  nestled  on  a  s"mall 
mountain  stream  and  surrounded  with  gardens 
and  wooded  heights,  lying  not  far  from  Rudol- 
stadt,  the  chief  city  of  this  region,  on  the  one 
side,  and  on  the  other  side  not  far  fromKeilhau, 
the  mother-school,  which  is  to  suckle  the  new- 
born infant.  Into  his  dilapidated  powder  mill 
he  has  succeeded  in  gathering  a  little  band  of 
village  children,  not  without  some  hesitation  on 
the  part  of  parents,  it  would  seem,  who  naturally 
wondered  what  this  curious  business  meant  —  an 
old  gray-haired  man  spending  his  time  in  playing 
with  little  children. 

He  has  as  yet  no  name  for  his  new  enterprise 
except  some  roundabout  designation  like  ' '  Insti- 
tute for  the  child's  creative  activity  through 


THE  KINDERGARDEN  REALIZED.  297 

play;  "  the  magic  word  Kindergarden  he  has 
not  yet  come  upon,  but  will  later.  Still  he  is 
going  to  print  at  once,  for  the  purpose  of  dis- 
seminating his  doctrine;  accordingly  he  starts 
the  Sonntagsblatt  (or  Sunday  Journal)  which 
appeared  first  about  the  middle  of  the  year  1837, 
continued  in  1838,  suspended  in  1839  and  was 
revived  in  1840,  shortly  after  which  its  publica- 
tion ceased.  Its  articles  were  written  chiefly  by 
Froebel  himself,  and  have  become  a  classic  au- 
thority for  his  early  views.  The  Sunday  Journal 
of  1837-8  contains  an  exposition  of  the  plan  of 
his  Institute,  also  a  full  account  of  the  Ball  and 
of  the  Second  Gift,  or  the  Sphere  and  the  Cube. 
We  can  see  how  deeply  this  Gift,  which  is  the 
central  one  of  all,  the  originative  one,  occupied 
him,  as  the  printed  explanations  of  it  take  up  in 
the  original  fifty-two  pages.  This  was  the  Gift 
which  dawned  upon  him  at  Burgdorf ,  and  which 
gave  him  the  idea  of  his  System  of  Play-gifts. 
It  is  elaborated  with  a  fullness  which  the  reader 
now  finds  somewhat  wearisome  with  its  repeti- 
tions and  amplifications ;  but  we  must  recollect 
that  Froebel  is  here  unfolding  the  germ  of  his 
entire  kindergarden  organism,  is  setting  down 
the  manifold  turns  of  his  own  mind  in  thinking 

o 

out  the  subject  at  various  intervals  of  time.  We 
may  suppose  that  many  of  these  reflections  were 
written  down  before  he  left  Switzerland.  So  the 
reader  will  follow  with  interest  this  earliest  essay 


298  THE    LIFE    OF    FEOEBEL. 

when  he  considers  that  it  leads  into  the  primitive 
workshop  of  Froebel'^  kindergarden  idea,  which 
can  be  seen  almost  in  the  act  of  birth  just  here. 
There  is  as  yet  in  the  Second  Gift  no  Cylinder, 
which  is  not  yet  evolved,  but  in  its  place  is  the 
doll,  as  an  object  representing  life,  and  hence 
different  in  nature  from  Sphere  and  Cube. 

As  already  stated,  in  1839  the  Sunday  Jour- 
nal stopped  publication,  which,  however,  was 
resumed  in  1840.  Then  appeared  for  the  first 
time  the  Third,  Fourth  and  Fifth  Gifts,  in  sep- 
arate boxes  with  explanatory  text  and  litho- 
graphs for  illustration.  The  Sixth  Gift  seems 
not  yet  to  have  been  worked  out.  We  see,  also, 
that  his  system  of  Morphology  with  its  Forms  of 
Life,  Beauty  and  Knowledge  was  developed,  as 
he  shows  these  Forms  in  a  number  of  examples. 

We  must  add  that  the  famous  motto,  "  Come, 
let  us  live  for  our  children,"  first  appeared  in  the 
title  to  the  Sunday  Journal.  This  was  published 
by  Frederick  Froebel,  at  Blankenburg,  Keilhau, 
Burgdorf ,  and  Columbus,  Ohio.  This  last  place 
of  publication  creates  some  surprise,  but  Froebel' s 
friends,  some  of  the  Frankenberg  Brothers,  had 
emigrated,  and  were  located  probably  in  the  men- 
tioned American  city. 

Froebel  had  set  up  his  own  printing-press,  as 
no  publisher  could  be  found  for  his  work. 
Moreover,  he  had  to  have  drawings  for  his  Gifts, 
and  lithographic  plates  had  to  be  made.  Herein 


THE  KINDERGARDEN  REALIZED.  299 

he  was  assisted  by  a  very  important  man,  Fred- 
erick Unger,  painter,  who  spins  the  artistic 
thread  through  Froebel's  later  life.  He  was  a 
former  pupil  at  Keilhau,  and  entered  into  his 
teacher's  plans  with  zeal  and  strong  appreciation. 
It  was  Unger  who  prepared  the  pictures  and 
plates  for  the  later  Book  of  Mother  Play-songs. 
Indeed,  without  this  strange  genius,  yet  kind- 
hearted  and  loyal,  Froebel  could  hardly  have 
done  his  work,  at  least  this  part  of  it.  They 
labored  together  in  the  so-called  work-ship,  both 
geniuses,  both  irritable  and  dogmatic,  always 
falling  out  with  each  other,  yet  always  making 
up  again,  for  the  one  could  not  do  without  the 
other.  So  the  picture-maker  Unger  has  his 
own  unique  niche  in  the  kindergarden  temple 
of  fame. 

Having  thus  settled  at  BlanKenburg  and  made  a 
beginning,  Froebel  feels  that  he  must  at  once 
start  to  planting  his  work  in  other  parts  of  his 
beloved  fatherland.  This  trait  lay  deep  in  him; 
he  is  the  born  teacher,  he  cannot  rest  till  he  im- 
parts what  he  has  discovered.  Also  he  sets  his 
disciples  on  fire;  the  Keilhau  teachers  carry 
boxes  of  Play-gifts  along  on  their  rambles 
through  Germany,  showing  and  explaining  them 
at  every  opportunity.  In  this  way  the  Idea  gets 
introduced  into  Dresden,  paving  the  way  for 
Froebel  himself.  Thus  during  the  year  1838 
there  is  quite  a  little  propagation  in  different 


300  THE    LIFE    OF    FEOEBEL. 

localities  of  central  Germany,  in  which  work  the 
three  Keilhau  teachers,  Barop,  Langethal,  and 
Middendorf  all  join,  the  latter  returning  from 
Switzerland  during  this  year  to  help  his  friend  in 
the  new  task. 

Froebel  was  at  this  time  the  picture  of  the 
burning  propagandist,  forgetful  of  himself  and 
also  of  others  in  his  consuming  zeal  for  the  Idea. 
Every  human  being  whom  he  met  and  from  whom 
he  could  draw  a  spark  of  interest,  he  would  de- 
tain and  begin  pouring  out,  pouring  out  unwear- 
iedly.  A  visitor  at  Blankenburg  reports  that  he 
had  scarcely  reached  the  village,  when  Froebel 
knew  of  his  arrival,  and  appeared  at  his  quarters ; 
at  once  that  long,  thin,  bony,  but  elastic  figure 
had  whisked  out  his  play  materials  and  begun 
explaining  them  without  further  introduction. 
All  this  was  accompanied  by  a  flow  of  talk  over- 
whelming in  quantity  and  often  obscure  in  mean- 
ing, which  made  the  listener  wrinkle  his  forehead 
and  draw  down  his  eyebrows  in  a  tremendous  fit 
of  concentration.  But  under  this  exterior  lay 
devotion  to  an  ideal  end,  and  in  this  strange  talk 
lurked  the  new  gospel  of  man's  education. 

The  culmination  of  this  period  of  his  propa- 
gandism  was  his  visit  at  Dresden.  In  company 
with  Middendorf  we  find  him  in  that  city  giving 
a  lecture  on  Jan.  7th,  1839.  Very  few  could 
follow  his  peculiar  nomenclature  when  he  spoke 
of  the  whole,  and  member  and  member-whole,  of 


THE  KINDEEGAEDEN  REALIZED.  301 

the  mediation  of  contraries,  of  the  child  in  rela- 
tion to  the  all-life.  When  he  asked  what  is  the 
mediating  third  between  the  infant  and  the  world, 
he  answered  his  own  question:  The  Ball. 
Whereat  the  report  is  that  a  smile  ran  over  the 
faces  of  the  audience.  Surely  not  a  great  suc- 
cess ;  the  general  public  had  hardly  more  to  carry 
away  from  the  lecture  than  their  own  confused 
heads,  and  the  memory  of  having  listened  to  an 
odd,  if  not  addled,  genius  from  somewhere  down 
in  Thuringia.  Still  let  a  single  encouraging  ray 
of  sunshine  be  duly  noted :  the  Queen  of  Saxony 
was  one  of  his  listeners,  and,  after  manifesting 
much  interest  in  his  work,  spoke  to  him  in  a  per- 
sonal interview:  "These  aims  and  efforts  of 
yours  are  very  beautiful  and  noble." 

Froebel  continued  lecturing  and  working  at 
Dresden  for  more  than  a  month ;  the  scientific 
men  assembled  once  to  hear  him,  and  also  the 
teachers.  There  was  an  attempt  to  found  a 
kindergarden  under  the  leadership  of  Adolph 
Frankenburg,  one  of  his  most  devoted  followers, 
but  the  little  craft  struck  upon  some  unseen 
rocks.  Also  the  scheme  of  a  kindergarden  train- 
ing-school at  Dresden  was  mentioned,  but  not 
carried  out;  indeed  how  could  it  be,  in  the  pres- 
ent unripe  condition  of  the  work?  February 
14th  Froebel  and  Middendorf  left  Dresden  and 
journeyed  to  Leipzig,  where  again  Froebei  gave 
some  lectures  on  his  present  theme  and  roused 


THE   LIFE    OF   FEOEBEL. 

some  interest.  But  in  this  city  of  publishers  he 
did  not  succeed  in  obtaining  a  publisher,  which 
seems  to  have  been  one  of  his  objects.  He 
reached  home  at  Blankenburg  April  21st,  1839, 
after  an  absence  of  some  four  months. 

Such  was  Froebel's  first  grand  tour  of  propa- 
gandism,  which  is  hereafter  to  be  often  re- 
peated. But  it  was  not  a  success  and  could  not 
be,  in  the  nature  of  the  case.  The  kindergarden 
idea  was  born,  but  not  yet  realized,  though  in 
the  process  of  realization.  The  organism  was 
growing,  but  incomplete  and  immature ;  at  most 
Froebel  had  but  four  Gifts  to  show,  and  not  all 
of  these  were  yet  ready  for  distribution  in  boxes 
with  printed  explanations.  This  is  to  come 
later.  So  Froebel  failed  to  make  the  large  city 
of  Dresden  his  center,  but  was  remanded  back 
to  his  little  country  village  of  Blankenburg  for 
further  study  and  development.  Undoubtedly 
he  sowed  some  seed  and  made  some  friends,  so 
that  the  time  was  not  wholly  lost.  But  the 
chief  lesson  was  the  consciousness  that  his  sys- 
tem was  still  imperfect,  and  must  now  be  wrought 
out  to  something  like  completeness. 

Then  we  must  observe  that  his  dearest  friend 
and  disciple,  as  well  his  most  eloquent  and  win- 
ning expounder,  Middendorf ,  could  not  help  him, 
though  with  him  on  this  journey.  For  Midden- 
dorf had  recently  returned  from  Switzerland  after 
an  absence  of  several  years,  and  had  not  yet 


THE  KINDERGAEDEN  REALIZED.  303 

made  the  kindergardeii  his  own.  So  he  had  to 
stand  by  in  silence  for  the  most  part,  giving  only 
to  the  cause  of  his  friend  his  personal  presence, 
which  was  a  benediction.  Later  he  will  work 
with  Froebel  at  Blankenburg  and  come  to  know 
the  kindergarden  as  none  other  except  its  foun- 
der knew  it;  then  he  will  employ  that  silvery 
tongue  of  his  in  its  propagation  with  an  eloquence 
which  probably  none  of  its  advocates  have  since 
equaled . 

When  Froebel  returned  home  from  Dresden 
he  found  his  wife  in  a  sinking  condition,  in  fact 
dying.  She  breathed  her  last  May  13th,  1839, 
in  the  59th  year  of  her  age. 

Already  the  outlines  of  her  life  with  Froebel 
have  been  carried  along  with  the  preceding  nar- 
rative. She,  a  highly  cultivated  lady,  "the 
pupil  of  Fichte  and  Schleiermacher,"  had  left  a 
luxurious  home  in  Berlin,  and  had  courageously 
undergone  the  hardships  and  reverses  of  Keilhau. 
She  went  with  her  husband  to  Switzerland,  and 
while  there  contracted  the  malady  which  was  to 
end  her  life.  She  had  no  children  of  her  own 
but  possessed  very  strongly  the  maternal  instinct, 
which  has  its  memorial  in  her  husband's  greatest 
book,  the  Mother  Play-songs.  Already  at  Berlin 
she  adopted  a  daughter  whom  Langethal  after- 
wards married ;  then  she  adopted  a  second  daugh- 
ter, Luise,  who  died  only  a  few  days  before  her. 


304  THE   LIFE    OF    FEOEBEL. 

Froebel's  house  was  indeed  a  house  of  mourning 
after  his  return  from  Dresden. 

Bowed  to  the  earth  by  the  blow,  Froebel  took 
refuge  with  his  priestly  friend  Middendorf  at 
Keilhau  for  consolation  and  recovery.  He  says 
that  only  with  great  difficulty  he  rose  to  his  feet 
again  and  began  work.  In  June,  1839,  we  find 
him  once  more  at  his  task  in  Blankenburg,  having 
now  under  his  charge  30,  40,  and  sometimes  50 
children  from  one  to  seven  years  old.  He  drowns 
his  great  sorrow  in  labor;  he  must  henceforth, 
first  of  all,  unfold  and  complete  his  system  of 
Play-gifts,  having  found  the  grand  opportunity 
in  the  little  ones  before  him.  Also  teachers 
come  to  him  for  instruction,  so  that  he  has  a  little 
training-school  connected  with  his  kindergarden. 
But  all  of  them  are  as  yet  men. 

Still  his  larger  thought  on  this  subject  is 
beginning  to  germinate  in  his  heart.  He  seeks 
to  interest  women,  married  and  single,  in  the 
education  of  little  children.  Toward  the  end  of 
1839  we  find  him  occupied  with  the  thought  of 
founding  an  association  of  ladies  for  this  pur- 
pose. The  coming  Christmas  he  would  celebrate 
by  the  establishment  of  such  an  association. 
The  loss  of  his  wife  seems  to  have  vividly 
brought  home  to  his  feelings  the  place  of 
woman  in  the  household  and  in  education;  he 
sees  the  void  when  she  is  gone. 

Such  were  the  varied  experiences  of    Froebel 


THE  KINDERGARDEN  REALIZED.  305 

during  these  first  three  years  at  Blankenburg, 
from  1837  till  1840.  A  good  beginning  he  has 
certainly  made  toward  realizing  his  Idea.  Beside 
his  work  in  the  kindergarden  proper,  with  its 
living  overflow  of  suggestion,  he  has  a  printing- 
press  to  disseminate  his  thoughts.  He  has  a 
little  factory  for  making  his  play-material,  of 
which  the  third,  fourth  and  fifth  Gifts  in  their 
boxes  with  explanatory  text  and  plates  appear  in 
1840.  Printing,  engraving,  manufacturing  are 
all  carried  on  by  the  man  single-handed  and  with- 
out money.  How  did  he  do  it?  One  thing  is 
certain:  such  a  spirit  cannot  be  put  down  by 
the  fates  of  existence  in  their  most  malignant 
mood. 

He  was  troubled  about  a  fitting  name  for  his 
new  institution.  Various  designations  he  had 
given  it,  but  he  could  not  satisfy  himself.  One  of 
these  was  Kleiiikinderbeschdftigungsanstalt  (liter- 
ally small-children-occupation-institute^))  which 
was  just  a  little  too  German  for  even  the  Ger- 
mans. Nine  syllables  and  four  concepts  thrust 
into  one  word !  It  will  not  do  —  a  name  wrapped 
in  such  a  quantity  of  swaddling  clothes,  though 
it  be  for  the  babies !  Another  must  be  coined 
direct  from  the  mint  of  the  soul.  Froebel  was 
walking  one  day  over  the  Steiger  to  Blanken- 
burg, in  company  with  Barop  and  Middendorf . 
He  cried  out  repeatedly,  "  O  for  a  name  suitable 
to  my  youngest  child!"  Blankenburg  lay  at 

20 


306  THE    LIFE    OF   FEOEBEL. 

their  feet,  pensively  he  stepped  along.  Sud- 
denly he  stood  still  as  if  chained  to  the  earth, 
and  his  eye  assumed  a  transfigured  look.  Then 
he  shouted  to,  the  mountains,  that  the  echo  came 
back^  from  the  four  winds:  "  Heure'ka,  I  have 
found  it !  KINDERGARDEN  it  shall  be  called ! ' ' 

Such  is  Barop's  dramatic  account  of  the  birth 
of  that  magic  word,  which  bids  fair  to  pass  into 
every  living  tongue  on  the  globe  and  to  outlast 
the  German  language  itself.  In  the  deepest 
sense  did  Froebel  shout  this  word  from  the 
mountain-tops ;  the  echo  is  still  resounding  from 
the  four  quarters  of  the  earth,  not  dying  away 
but  strangely  increasing  in  volume,  like  that 
famous  "  shot  heard  round  the  world."  (43) 

II. 

The  Blankenburg  Festival. 

The  infant  has  now  a  name,  verily  a  name 
with  which  to  conjure.  Not  only  born,  but  bap- 
tized, though  by  no  means  strong  enough  to 
make  its  way  in  the  world ;  it  has  yet  to  grow,  to 
develop,  to  become  a  complete,  fully  rounded 
organism,  capable  of  standing  on  its  own  feet  and 
marching  toward  its  end.  Still  the  impatient 
Froebel  is  eager  to  publish  at  once  its  happy 
name  linked  with  its  idea ;  far  and  wide  must  the 
word  Jcindergarden  be  made  to  sound  in  men's 
ears.  So  he  schemes  a  grand  festival  which  is 


THE  KINDERGAEDEN  REALIZED.  307 

to  launch  the  Universal  German  Kindergarden  at 
Blankenburg  on  the  28th  day  of  June,  1840.  In 
one  festal  day  four  anniversaries  of  birth-days 
are  to  be  celebrated,  Keilhau  and  Blankenburg 
joining  hands  for  this  purpose.  These  are  the 
four  which  are  to  become  one :  — 

1.  The  general  birth-day  festival   of   all    the 
Keilhau  students.     It   was    a  former  custom  at 
Keilhau  to  celebrate  the  birth-day  of  each  pupil, 
but,  with  the  increase  of   attendance,  this  had 
become  impossible.     So  there  was  a  general  cele- 
bration of  all  the  birth-days,  which  was  placed  on 
the  28th  of  June,  for  the  present  year. 

2.  On  the  same  day  was  the  festival  of   St. 
John   the  Baptist,  who  was  also  a  prophet  and 
forerunner  of  great  events. 

3.  On  the  same  day  the  400th  anniversary  of 
the  invention  of  printing  was  placed,  the  Gutten- 
berg   festival,  which   had  likewise  its  deep  sig- 
nificance for  Froebel,  who  was  his  own  printer. 

4.  Last  but  not  least,  the  celebration  of  the 
founding  of  the  Universal  German  Kindergarden? 
to  which,  indeed,  the  other  festivals  are  chiefly 
many-hued  halos  encircling  the  glorified  child. 

Keilhau  and  Blankenburg,  then,  are  to  unite  on 
this  festal  occasion,  under  Froebel,  the  founder 
of  .both  institutions.  Teachers  and  pupils,  com- 
ing together  from  each  place  in  different  direc- 
tions, before  sunrise,  assemble  on  the  Dessau,  a 
small  mountain.  There  they  await,  in  a  sort  of 


308  THE   LIFE    OF   FROEBEL. 

nature-worship,  the  rise  of  the  Sun,  the  suggest- 
ive image  of  the  work  of  St.  John,  Guttenberg, 
and  Froebel,  all  of  whom  were  light-bearers  of 
the  earth.  Barop  saluted  the  grand  luminary 
with  a  hymn,  which  reminds  us  of  that  old  Greek 
hymn  to  Apollo,  the  sun-god  of  Hellas,  who  also 
had  his  festivals.  The  chorus  of  singers  followed 
with  their  song.  Then  the  procession,  taking  a 
fine  view  of  the  hills  and  valleys  bursting  into  the 
gorgeous  illumination  of  the  morning,  went  down 
the  mountain  to  the  Keilhau  schoolhouse,  where 
Middendorf  made  an  address,  full  of  the  glorifi- 
cation of  all  these  birth- days.  More  songs,  with 
a  general  salutation  of  all  to  each  and  each  to  all, 
followed  by  a  universal  halleluiah  of  those  hungry 
boys,  when  the  heavenly  word  dropped  down 
among  them :  Breakfast.  Such  was  the  first 
grand  act  of  the  day,  with  a  streak  in  it  of  old 
Aryan  sun-worship,  though  now  filled  with  a 
purposed  symbolism  in  Froebel' s  vein. 

Next  comes  the  distinctively  Christian  part  of 
the  program,  with  many  choral  songs  inter- 
spersed. After  breakfast,  at  the  proper  hour, 
the  children  assembled  at  the  churcn  and  listened 
to  a  sermon  preached  by  one  of  trie  Keilhau 
teachers  on  the  text:  "Many  Gifts,  but  One 
Spirit."  We  have  to  think  of  Froebel's  Gifts  in 
this  connection  —  and  why  not?  The  preacher 
made  an  elaborate  comparison  between  John  the 
Baptist  and  John  Guttenberg,  those  two  great 


THE  KINDEBGABDEN  REALIZED.          309 

lights  of  the  past  —  and  why  should  he  not 
throw  a  side  glance  at  the  third  great  luminary 
now  present?  But  enough!  with  prayer  and 
song  ends  the  forenoon  of  the  festival. 

In  the  afternoon  when  refreshments  had  been 
duly  attended  to,  they  began  their  festal  pilgrim- 
age to  Blankenburg,  which  was  the  grand  objec- 
tive point  of  the  whole  celebration.  See  them 
in  wagons  decked  with  foliage,  hung  with  fes- 
toons and  flowers,  over-canopied  with  boughs  of 
trees — teachers  and  pupils,  girls  and  boys, 
laughter  and  song,  rolling  down  the  valley  of  the 
little  brook  Schaale,  through  two  small  villages, 
where  the  people  flock  out  to  see  and  salute  — 
the  clouds  above  throwing  down  now  and  then 
a  few  drops  of  rain  just  for  fun.  At  last  they 
arrive  at  Blankenburg,  and  on  the  market-place 
they  stop  and  salute  the  town  with  a  festal  song 
of  praise,  whose  unpretentious  refrain  has  a  ten- 
dency to  jingle  through  the  head  for  a  little 
while. 

Gegriisset  sei  uns  diese  Stadt, 

Die  schiitzend  Kinderpflege  hat. 

This  greeting  to  the  "  city  "  being  ended,  all 
pass  to  the  Town  Hall,  where  the  Guttenberg 
part  of  the  festival  is  to  be  celebrated.  The 
chorus  of  Keilhau  singers  with  some  help  from 
Rudolstadt  now  sing  The  Miner's  Salute  —  the 
miner,  who  brings  up  to  man  and  sunlight  the 
deep-hidden  treasures,  hitherto  valueless  and 


310  THE    LIFE    OF   FROEBEL. 

unknown,  of  Mother  Earth.  His  salute  to  the 
world  as  he  comes  out  of  the  shaft,  is  Gliick 
auf! 

Just  at  this  point  in  the  closing  of  the  song, 
Froebel  rises  to  spe'ak,  and,  as  the  beginning  of 
his  address,  he  catches  up  from  the  singers  and 
repeats  three  times  the  refrain :  Gluck  auf, 
Gluck  auf,  Gluck  auf  I  He  is  the  miner  now 
appearing  who  has  brought  from  the  deep,  dark 
shaft  of  the  primeval  Mother  certain  precious 
truths,  of  which  he  is  going  to  give  some 
account  in  person. 

Froebel  speaks  at  first  of  Guttenberg  and  the 
invention  of  printing,  which  is  the  "  mediator  of 
Past,  Present,  and  Future."  But  he  soon  turns 
away  to  where  his  heart  lies,  to  education  in  gen- 
eral and  specially  to  the  topic  of  all  topics,  to 
the  kindergarden,  "  the  Universal  German  Kin- 
dergarden,  to  be  called  German  on  account  of  its 
spirit."  So  he  feels  himself  compelled  to  defend 
that  word  Deufsch  in  the  title  of  his  institution, 
and  it  certainly  needs  his  defense.  Contradic- 
tory are  the  two  adjectives,  and  are  destined, 
like  the  famous  Kilkenny  cats,  to  eat  each  other 
up  and  vanish,  leaving  the  word  kindergarden  to 
posterity  and  eternity.  Strange!  but  Froebel  in 
spite  of  his  Swiss  dip,  could  not  wholly  free  him- 
self from  nativisni.  So  he  called  his  school  at 
Keilhau  long  ago  the  Universal  German  Institute, 
to  which  appellation  the  philosopher  Krause,  we 


THE  KINDEEQAEDEN  REALIZED.          311 

recollect,    strongly   objected   with  good  reason. 
But  let  the  name  pass,  the  thing  is  here. 

Particularly  in  this  address  does  Froebel  appeal  V 
to  women,  married  and  unmarried.  To  them  he  \ 
looks  for  the  chief  support  of  his  undertaking. 
Especially  does  he  try  to  stir  them  from  their 
"  modesty  and  seclusion."  Do  not  think  our 
city  too  little,  our  country  too  poor,  our  re- 
sources too  limited.  Do  not  despise  the  small 
thing  —  the  small  place,  the  small  start,  the 
small  child,  the  small  kindergarden.  Women, 
open  your  eyes,  your  hearts,  and  your  purses  — 
let  each  of  you  subscribe  for  a  share  of  this 
stock. 

Here  we  reach  the  grand  purpose  of  FroebePs 
speech  as  well  as  of  the  whole  festival.  He  had 
evolved  a  dazzling  scheme  of  finance,  though  he 
had  certainly  not  distinguished  himself  as  a 
financier  in  his  previous  record.  The  assemblage 
breaks  up,  in  an  adjoining  room  grown  people 
are  invited  to  subscribe  to  Froebel' s  new  enter- 
prise, while  the  children  run  out  into  the  open 
air,  and  play  his  games  and  sing  his  songs. 

All  Keilhau  participated  in  this  festival,  Mid- 
dendorf ,  Barop  and  the  rest.  But  there  is  one 
person  whom  we  look  around  to  spy,  but  he  is 
not  to  be  found.  This  is  Langethal,  who  for 
nearly  thirty  years  has  been  the  companion  of 
Froebel,  through  all  the  ups  and  downs  of  Keil- 
hau, and  also  of  the  Swiss  period.  But  Lange- 


312  THE   LIFE    OF    FROEBEL. 

thai  has  separated  from  Froebel,  after  a  little 
short  dip  in  the  kindergarden,  and  has  returned 
to  Switzerland,  where  he  has  accepted  a  position 
in  the  Girls'School  at  Bern  —  "a  step"  says 
Barop,  "  which  Froebel  never  forgave."  So 
these  friends  have  gone  asunder,  and  Lange- 
thal  drops  out  of  Froebel' s  life  during  the  whole 
kindergarden  period.  Only  after  Froebel's  death 
will  he,  an  old  man  and  blind,  return  to  his  for- 
mer, place  at  Keilhau  under  Barop,  and  instruct 
the  later  Keilhau  students,  who  will  celebrate 
the  fame  of  "their  best  teacher,"  though  he 
did  not  and  could  not  see  the  print  of  a  text-, 
book,  knowing  even  his  Greek  Homer  by  heart. 
(44). 

Such  is  the  conclusion  of  the  festival  at  Blank- 
enburg.  Strange  destiny  of  the  small  German 
hamlet!  Visited  now  by  hundreds  of  pilgrims 
(destined  to  be  thousands),  and  regarded  with 
more  love  and  reverence  by  more  strangers  than 
any  other  German  town,  large  or  small !  This 
very  year  and  month  in  which  I  am  writing  these 
words  (June,  1900),  the  festival  of  1840  is  to  be 
re-celebrated  at  Blankenburg,  with  dedication  of 
the  New  Froebel  House,  center  of  the  kinder- 
garden  world,  whither  kindergardners  are  now 
flocking  from  the  ends  of  the  earth,  all  with  an 
apostolic  fervor  in  their  hearts.  For  they  must 
make  their  pilgrimage  to  the  cradle  of  the  kinder- 
garden,  to  the  very  manger,  so  to  speak,  where 


THE  KINDERGARDEX  REALIZED.  313 

lay  the  new-born  world-child  and  first  saw  the 
light  of  heaven,  in  the  little  town  of  Blankenburg. 
44  And  thou,  Bethlehem,  though  thou  be  little 
among  the  thousands  of  Judah,  jet  out  of  thee 
shall  he  come  forth  unto  me,  that  is  to  be  the 
ruler  in  Israel." 

III. 

The  Blankenburg  Bubble. 

We  are  now  to  witness  Froebel  in  a  new  and 
unique  role,  that  of  blowing  a  colossal  financial 
bubble  for  the  purpose  of  floating  his  scheme 
into  the  heaven  of  abounding  cash.  As  he 
has  described  this  process,  let  us  hear  him 
speak :  — 

44  So  be  the  contribution  to  the  great  educa- 
tional work  fixed  at  ten  dollars  (Prussian  thalers) 
a  person,  in  the  form  of  a  bond,  for  which  the 
German  women  —  wives  and  virgins  (Frauenund 
Jungfrauen)  — are  to  subscribe. 

"  Now  let  us  take  for  granted  that  only  one 
hundred  women  in  the  larger  circles  of  life  are  so 
penetrated  with  the  truth  and  beneficent  effect 
of  this  work,  that  each  one  will  take  not  only  one 
bond  herself  (ten  dollars),  but  will  influence  ten 
other  women  of  her  acquaintance  so  that  each  of 
these  will  also  take  a  bond.  Thus 'we  shall  have 
1,100  women,  German  wives  and  virgins,  as 
bondholders  in  the  grand  enterprise. 

"  Still  further,  with  great  certainty,  it  can  be 


314  THE    LIFE    OF   FBOEBEL. 

assumed,  on  account  of  the  purely  human  and 
religious  spirit  of  the  whole  work,  as  well  as  on 
account  of  the  purely  human  and  God-united  feel- 
ing and  life  of  German  women,  that  each  of  these 
new  thousand  women,  if  not  directly,  yet  through 
the  help  of  others,  will  obtain  ten  more  wives  and 
virgins  for  the  furtherance  of  the  scheme.  Thus 
there  will  be  altogether  the  grand  total  of  11,100 
women  participating  in  the  enterprise. 

"  But  let  us  assume  only  10,000  actual  share- 
holders at  $10  a  share;  it  is  plain  that  there  will 
be  the  full  capital  of  One  hundred  thousand 
dollars."  (Extract  from  Froebel's  prospectus, 
dated  Blankenburg,  May  1st,  1840;  reprinted  in 
Lange's  edition  of  Froebel's  Schriften,  II.,  s. 
463.) 

Such  was  the  gorgeous  bubble  which  floated 
before  Froebel'  s  imagination  during  this  time ;  h e 
played  with  it  till  it  became  the  most  solid  reality. 
He  came  to  have  no  doubt  of  the  instantaneous 
success  of  the  scReme.  He  seemed  to  hear  the 
money  clinking  in  his  coffers ;  he  engaged  a  book- 
keeper and  business  manager  before  a  single 
bond  had  been  sold  —  all  on  the  strength  of  the 
fabulous  100,000  dollars. 

Now  what  is  he  going  to  do  with  this  money? 
A  fairy  world  of  grand  projects  filled  his  head, 
for  the  bubbles  one  after  another  kept  rising 
and  dancing  off  before  him,  filled  with  all  the 
iridescence  of  unrestrained  dreamland.  But  the 


THE  KINDERGARDEN  REALIZED.          315 

educational  part  of  the  program  consisted  chiefly 
of  the  following  practical  matters :  — 

1.  A  model  kindergarden. 

2.  A  training  school  for  kindergardners. 

3.  A  factory  for  kindergarden  material. 

4.  A  publication  department  for   a  periodical 
and  for  kindergarden  literature. 

5.  A    center   for    mothers'    associations,    for 
teachers  of  children,  and  for  all  those  interested 
in  what  is  now  called  child-study. 

A  large  building  was  to  be  erected,  or  rather  a 
series  of  buildings,  for  whose  construction  the 
judgment  of  the  best  German  architects  was  to 
be  invoked.  The  first  hundred  subscribers  were 
allured  with  a  special  honor :  they  were  to  be 
called  the  Founders,  and  their  names  were  to  be 
eternally  preserved  by  being  placed  under  the 
corner-stone  of  the  edifice ;  and  this  edifice  was 
to  be  begun  when  a  thousand  subscribers  had 
been  secured.  The  whole  was  to  be  the  property 
of  the  bondholders,  and  provision  was  also  made 
for  the  distribution  of  the  dividends,  as  the 
^peculation  would  certainly  be  profitable  to  the 
investors,  besides  aiding  the  great  cause  of  edu- 
cating infants.  And  many  other  items,  which 
the  curious  reader  can  still  peruse  in  the  above- 
cited  prospectus. 

But  alack-a-day!  Froebel's  many-hued  "  joint 
stock  concern  "  (to  use  the  dialect  of  the  Board 
of  Trade)  fell  flat  from  the  start,  he  had  no 


316  T.HE    LIFE    OF   FBOEBEL. 

modern  methods  "  of  bulling  the  market."  The 
thousand  subscribers  never  subscribed,  so  the  big 
pile  of  buildings  never  rose,  never  even  fluttered 
to  rise.  Hence  the  Universal  German  Kinder- 
garden,  as  planned  in  1840,  never  existed;  the 
kindergarden  founded  in  1837  did  exist  and  will 
outlast  this  fiasco  for  a  while,  though  badly 
shattered  by  its  explosion.  A  great  mistake  is  it 
to  say  that  Froebel's  kindergarden  was  founded 
in  1840  at  Blankenburg — a  statement  which 
has  crept  into  many  books  treating  of  this 
subject. 

Three  weeks  after  the  celebration  we  find  Froe- 
bel  writing  to  his  cousin,  Madam  Schmidt,  com- 
plaining that  subscriptions  had  fallen  behind  ex- 
pectations, that  the  first  hundred,  or  the  Found- 
ers, had  not  yet  come  forward,  in  spite  of  the 
alluring  promise  of  immortality  under  the  corner- 
stone, or  that  other  more  solid  promise  of  pay- 
ing dividends  on  their  investment.  And  so  it 
continued.  At  last,  on  the  28th  of  June,  1843, 
just  three  years  after  the  festival,  a  report  was 
made  by  the  officials  of  the  Universal  German 
Kindergarden,  showing  155  subscribers  instead 
of  10,000,  of  whom  just  37  had  paid  up  in  money, 
so  that  the  treasury  possessed  in  cash  370  dol- 
lars instead  of  100,000. 

Quite  a  little  sum  of  incidental  expenses,  how- 
ever, had  been  incurred  in  all  these  proceedings; 
the  printer,  the  bookkeeper,  the  traveling  agent, 


THE  KINDERGARDEN  REALIZED.          317 

etc.,  had  to  be  paid;  shopmen  also  sent  in  sun- 
dry accounts  for  a  variety  of  merchandise.  As 
Froebel  had  neither  money  nor  credit  in  these 
parts,  Barop  had  to  be  his  security  in  the  first 
place,  and  now  has  to  foot  all  the  bills.  Even 
Barop,  the  most  level-headed  man  of  the  lot, 
seems  to  have  lost  his  level  head  for  a  while, 
gazing  at  Froebel' s  grandiose  bubble  floating  in  all 
its  glory  over  Blankenburg  and  Keilhau.  But 
these  bills  soon  brought  back  his  mental  balance, 
and  he  began  to  draw  the  financial  rein  tighter 
than  ever  on  that  heaven-scaling  Pegasus,  which 
was  always  running  away  cloudward  with  Froebel. 
Great  and  noble,  as  well  as  far-sighted  Barop 
shows  himself  in  these  matters ;  loyal  to  the  Idea 
always,  he  knew  he  could  save  it  and  Froebel 
only  by  providing  a  kind  of  inexpugnable  finan- 
cial fortress  in  his  Keilhau  school,  to  which 
Froebel  and  all  the  propagandists  might  flee  in 
case  of  need.  The  history  of  the  cause  confirms 
the  truth  of  what  he  says  of  his  part  of  the 
work :  "I  restored  the  sunken  credit  ( of  Keil- 
hau) by  paying  its  debts,  and,  as  the  revenues 
of  the  school  kept  increasing,  I  soon  owned  the 
land  on  which  it  stood.  From  this  point,  then, 
I  was  more  and  more  able  to  support  the  enter- 
prises of  the  others,  having  secured  a  sufficient 
anchorage  for  the  whole  circle,  and  a  place  of 
refuge  for  every  emergency. ' '  Such  was  Barop 's 
share  in  the  cause  and  it  looks  as  if  the  vessel  had 


318  THE  LIFE   OF  FBOEBEL. 

gone  to  pieces  and  sunk  to  the  bottom  but  for 
his  foresight  and  energy.  (45) 

Most  complete,  however,  is  the  collapse  of 
the  Blankenburg  bubble.  Still  the  little  kinder- 
garden  there  will  go  on  as  before;  people  come 
for  training,  though  few  in  number ;  play  mate- 
rial is  manufactured,  though  not  in  great  quan- 
tity; the  printing  press  is  also  at  work  in  a 
humble  way.  Froebel,  at  first  stunned  by  the 
blow,  rises  to  his  feet,  and  begins  the  completion 
of  his  great  task ;  again  he  must  show  himself 
the  Fate-compeller.  Gradually  it  will  dawn 
upon  him  that  his  cause  was  not  ready  for  such 
a  magnificent  start;  the  kindergarden  had  still 
to  grow,  it  was  not  yet  organically  complete,  not 
yet  mature  enough  for  successful  propagation. 
Providence  he  must  again  behold  masking  in  the 
guise  of  misfortune. 

All  can  now  see  good  grounds  for  the  failure 
of  the  scheme.  Most  of  these  10,000  women 
would  have  to  ask  their  husbands  or  at  least 
some  man  for  the  money.  But  the  German 
woman  was  not  at  that  time  emancipated  to  the 
degree  she  is  now.  And  what  could  be  more 

o 

natural  for  a  woman,  even  if  she  had  the  money, 
than  to  consult  some  business  man  about  the  in- 
vestment. A  crazy  speculation  he  would  say ;  so 
would  you  and  I,  though  we  would  add:  "By 
all  means  give  Froebel  the  money."  And  the 
poorest  kindergardner  would  buy  a  share,  for  the 


THE  KINDEKQARDEN  REALIZED.          319 

sake  of  the  man  and  the  cause.  We  read  that 
nearly  all  the  stock  sold  was  taken  by  the  Blank- 
enburgers,  who  might  well  see  fame  and  profit 
for  their  little  town  in  those  large  buildings,  and 
in  the  pupils  of  the  institution.  But  we  can 
well  understand  how  much  banter  that  wife  had 
to  endure  who  asked  her  husband:  "  My  dear, 
give  me  ten  dollars  for  Froebel's  specula- 
tion." 

Yet  it  is  significant  to  note  how  completely  Froe- 
bel's  dream  has  been  realized  since  that  failure, 
and  through  it,  in  fact.  Not  one  German  kinder- 
garden  now,  but  thousands  among  all  civilized 
nations;  not  that  single  Blankenburg  training- 
school,  but  hundreds  in  many  tongues ;  not  that 
one  little  factory  for  materials,  but  a  notable 
branch  of  the  world's  business;  and  the  kinder- 
garden  press  not  small,  nor  inclined  to  silence ; 
and  kindergarden  literature  incessantly  pouring 
itself  forth,  of  which  this  present  book  is  but  a 
tiny  drop  in  a  world-embracing  cataract.  So  that 
wild  Blankenburg  dream  of  Froebel  has  been 
fulfilled  —  truly  a  prophetic  festival,  if  there  ever 
was  one.  Whimsical  old  Time  in  a  fit  of  jealousy 
smote  Froebel's  scheme  into  nothingness,  and 
then  started  with  all  his  might  to  realizing  it 
himself. 

But  the  bubble  burst,  and  Froebel  was  saved. 
Of  all  terrestrial  phantasms,  success  can  be  the 
most  double  and  two-faced.  Without  this  Blank- 


320  THE    LIFE    OF    FROEBEL. 

enburg  collapse,  there  would  have  been  no  com- 
pleted Mother  Play-song,  as  far  as  we  can  now 
prognosticate ;  hence  no  completed  kindergarden 
system.  The  discipline  of  failure  has  taken 
Froebel  in  hand,  and  sent  him  back  with  stripes 
to  his  apprenticeship  which  is  to  last  for  quite 
three  years,  sternly  compelling  him  to  do  his 
divinely  allotted  task  ere  release  can  come. 
What  this  task  is,  may  now  be  set  forth. 

IV. 

The  Book  of  Mother  Play-Songs. 

Thus  Froebel  is  thrown  back  upon  himself  by 
another  blow  of  Fate,  and  he  begins  to  digest  his 
failure.  But  at  first  he  is  somewhat  bitter  on 
account  of  the  result ;  he  blames  the  people  for 
their  lack  of  spirit,  he  blames  the  women,  mar- 
ried and  unmarried,  for  their  want  of  apprecia- 
tion. All  of  which  is  very  natural,  but  he  must 
get  over  it,  and  proceed  once  more  to  grapple 
destiny  by  the  horns.  After  some  months,  when 
he  sees  his  glorious  scheme  utterly  doomed,  he 
goes  back  to  his  kindergarden  at  Blankenburg. 

One  day  he  has  a  very  agreeable  surprise.  A 
deputation  of  parents  with  their  little  ones  comes 
from  Rudolstadt  to  visit  his  kindergarden.  The 
result  is  he  is  invited  by  them  /to  establish  a 
kindergarden  in  Rudolstadt,  the  capital  of  the 
province.  A  very  busy  man;  up  to  twelve 


THE  KINDEROARDEN  REALIZED.  321 

o'clock  he  gives  lessons  in  Blankenburg,  then 
punctually  at  one  o'clock  he  starts  for  Kudol- 
stadt  where  he  arrives  in  a  little  less  than  -an 
hour.  A  large  field  for  experience  he  has  in  his 
two  kindergardens,  and  we  find  him  asking  for 
the  observations  of  others  in  his  letters.  Quite 
a  little  society  for  child-study  he  has  already 
formed  in  the  year  1840.  In  both  kindergardens 
Middendorf  is  his  constant  companion  and 
helper. 

In  this  same  year  (1840)  he  resumes  the  pub- 
lication of  the  Sunday  Journal,  which,  however, 
suspends  again  after  a  brief  existence.  Still  he 
keeps  at  work  in  spite  of  reverses.  He  prepares 
a  little  book  of  nursery  songs  (fToseliedchen  )  , 
which  he  prints  in  1841.  It  is  the  prelude  to 
the  book  of  Mother  Play-songs,  and  its  purpose 
is,  as  he  says,  "to  train  the  body,  limbs  and 
senses  of  quite  small  children." 

With  this  book  he  seems  to  have  become  at 
once  dissatisfied,  and  he  resolves  to  start  over 
again  and  recast  the  whole  work,  in  accord  with 
his  completed  conception.  Each  play-song  is  to 
have  four  parts  —  motto,  song,  picture,  and  ex- 
planations, to  which  music  must  also  be  added. 
Then  each  play-song  must  be  made  a  member  of 
a  greater  totality,  which  constitutes  at  last  the 
book.  So  the  Mother  Play-songs  get  organized, 
singly  and  collectively;  but  they,  too,  are  only 
one  part  of  the  total  kindergarden  organism, 

21 


OF   THE 

UNIVERSIT 


322  THE    LIFE    OF   FROEBEL. 

which  more  and  more  definitely  is  shaping  itself 
in  the  mind  of  Froebel. 

80  the  much-tried  man,  under  the  very  ham- 
mer of  misfortune,  starts  to  producing  his  great- 
est book,  in  fact  the  keystone  in  the  arch  of  his 
whole  enterprise.  During  three  years,  as  nearly 
as  we  can  estimate  the  time,  this  book  must  have 
been  his  chief  thought  and  occupation,  employ- 
ing also  his  immediate  assistants.  We  can  see 
him,  day  in  and  day  out,  working  it  over,  testing 
it  on  his  kindergarden  children,  and  ordering  it 
according  to  a  fundamental  Idea,  which  holds  it 
together  in  an  inner  unity,  and  likewise  dis- 
tinguishes it  from  any  other  work  of  the  kind. 

Many  tender  threads  connect  the  book  with 
the  past,  and  with  those  who  are  gone.  He 
puts  the  mother  into  the  center  of  the  family  and 
of  his  scheme  of  education.  Of  his  own  wife  he 
must  have  often  been  reminded,  as  she  had  a 
share  in  its  early  conception  and  composition, 
and  his  mother  also  floated  back  to  him  from  the 
distant  days  of  his  childhood,  idealized  of  course, 
for  he  never  really  knew  her. 

During  these  three  years  he  hardly  leaves 
Blankenburg,  he  will  not  travel  to  propagate  his 
Idea  till  this  be  fully  wrought  out  and  embodied 
in  print.  He  sees  the  meaning  of  his  failure  at 
Dresden,  and  of  the  still  greater  failure  of  the 
grand  bond  scheme.  His  work  is  not  yet  ripe, 
his  system  is  not  yet  ready  for  successful  plant- 


THE  KINDEEQAHDEN  REALIZED.          323 

ing.  Let  him  think  it  out  and  realize  it  both  in 
writing  and  in  material  shapes.  He  is  now  alone, 
the  widower  Froebel,  having  a  small  household 
and  eating  at  a  restaurant.  Little  or  no  care  he 
has,  even  for  food,  as  Bar  op  will  not  let  him 
starve;  so  he  plunges  into  his  new  ta&k,  which, 
among  other  blessings,  gives  him  an  antidote  for 
his  many  sorrows. 

And  now  we  must  devote  a  few  words  to  Froe- 
bel's  chief  assistants  in  this  work.  Already  we 
have  mentioned  the  part  of  Madam  Henrietta 
Froebel  in  its  origin  and  growth,  but  she  never 
saw  the  completed  Mother  Play-song,  much  less 
the  completed  book,  which  underwent  a  good 
deal  of  development  after  her  decease. 

There  is  no  doubt  that  he  obtained  manifold 
and  continuous  help  from  his  dearest  friend  and 
inseparable  co-worker,  Wilhelm  Middendorf ,  who 
possessed  a  versifying  gift,  and  also  the  love  of 
practicing  it  upon  every  suitable  occasion.  A 
certain  power  of  reproducing  the  popular  ballad, 
Middendorf  shows  in  his  published  verses,  a  touch 
of  the  folk-song  was  his  by  nature ;  also,  he  was 
a  good  vocalist  and  much  given  to  singing.  Thus 
he  could  furnish  most  valuable  assistance  to 
Froebel,  who  was  not  a  good  singer,  having  a 
kind  of  a  nasal  snarl  in  his  voice,  and  he  says 
that  he  had  no  thorough  knowledge  of  music, 
though  passionately  devoted  to  song.  Midden- 
dorf was  the  father  of  a  blooming  family  of  chil- 


324  THE    LIFE    OF    FROEBEL. 

dren,  and  had  occasion  to  practice  lullabies  all  his 
life  in  his  own  household,  singing  for  his  babies 
and  with  them,  in  romp  and  play.  Thus  he  knew 
the  Play-song  before  Froebel,  and  in  a  way  that 
Froebel  never  knew  it,  as  the  latter  never  had 
any  children  of  his  own.  But  no  one  will  ever 
be  able  to  tell  how  much  and  what  Middendorf 
contributed  to  the  book  of  Mother  Play-songs ; 
he  was  content  to  have  his  work,  his  life,  yea, 
his  very  Self  sink  away  and  be  swallowed  up  in 
Froebel.  Still  there  can  be  no  question  that 
Froebel  was  the  creative  genius  of  the  book,  the 
central  sun  which  furnished  the  light. 

The  music  in  the  original  was  the  work  of 
Robert  Kohl,  student  of  theology,  and  teacher 
at  Keilhau.  During  this  time  he  was  betrothed 
to  Elise,  third  and  youngest  of  the  Froebel  girls, 
who  have  played  such  an  important  part  in  the 
history  of  Keilhau.  The  engagement,  however, 
was  broken,  and  some  ten  years  later  (in  1850) 
Elise  marries  Dr.  Siegfried  Schaffner,  also  co- 
worker  in  Keilhau.  Kohl's  music  has  found  the 
least  favor  of  any  part  of  the  work,  and  is  now 
generally  discarded.  Editors  (like  Seidel)  print 
usually  a  little  of  it  by  way  of  example,  but  feel 
that  they  have  to  mend  even  that  little. 

But  the  man  who  is  to  be  placed  next  to 
Froebel  in  importance  and  in  genius  is  Frederick 
Unger,  the  picture-maker  of  the  book  of  Mother 
Play-songs.  Already  he  has  been  mentioned  as 


THE  KINDERGARDEN  REALIZED.  325 

the  person  who  made  the  lithographic  plates  for 
the  forms  of  the  Play -gifts.  But  now  he  is 
called  to  do  the  great  work  of  his  life  in  con- 
junction with  his  former  teacher,  Froebel. 

Unger  had  received  his  training  in  art  at 
Munich.  Especially  in  the  setting  of  his  pictures 
we  can  observe  abundant  signs  of  his  previous 
studies,  which  were  not  superficial.  He  was  for 
many  years  the  chief  teacher  of  drawing  at  Keil- 
hau,  and  has  left  a  name  among  all  its  pupils  for 
oddity  and  originality.  Bachelor,  woman-hater, 
yea,  man-hater  too ;  yet  strangely  a  lover  of 
children,  who,  if  they  but  appeared,  had  the 
power  to  divert  his  wonted  tirades  against 
humanity.  Also  he  was  a  great  lover  of  birds, 
of  which  he  kept  a  large  number  in  his  bachelor 
quarters ;  these  he  would  talk  to  and  call  by  all  sorts 
of  caressing  names.  But  let  a  woman  dare  enter 
those  quarters !  "The  root  of  all  evil,"  as  he 
called  her,  would  again  be  expelled  from  Para- 
dise, for  Unger  had  made  up  his  mind  to  keep 
mother  Eve  and  all  her  daughters  out  of  his 
Eden.  Then  Satan  would  not  even  try  to 
get  in. 

In  personal  appearance  Unger  is  described 
as  stout  and  squatty;  broad-shouldered,  red- 
bearded,  with  a  beard  as  broad  as  a  board ;  he 
always  wore  around  his  loins  a  big  belt,  in  which 
he  stuck  the  various  implements  of  his  art,  such 


326  THE    LIFE    OF   FEOEBEL. 

as  pencils  and  paint  brushes ;  among  these  could 
be  always  seen  a  little  short  pipe,  black  with 
much  smoking;  shirt  collar  open,  without  neck- 
tie, his  head  jauntily  set  off  with  a  skull-cap. 
Such  was  the  outer  visible  appearance  of  the 
artistic  genius  with  whom  Froebel  labored  for 
three  years  and  more  in  the  work-shop  at  Blan- 
kenburg  over  the  book  of  Mother  Play-songs. 

Matters  did  not  always  run  smooth  in  that 
shop.  Originals  both  of  them,  and  both  irasci- 
ble in  addition;  both  strongly  self  -assertive,  „ 
yes,  self -conceited,  if  the  right  word  be  spoken 
out;  Froebel  would  take  one  of  Unger's 
sketches,  and  if  it  did  not  please  him,  would  tear 
it  up  and  fling  the  pieces  on  the  floor,  with  an 
outburst  of  disparagement.  Then  Unger's  turn 
Avould  come,  and  he  would  flare  up,  saying 
"You  don't  know  anything  about  art"  —a 
statement  which  has  at  least  its  grain  of  truth, 
as  the  reader  may  still  verify  in  some  of  Froe- 
bel's  interpretations  of  these  very  pictures.  The 
next  time,  however,  Froebel  would  be  delighted, 
would  praise  the  genius  of  his  artist,  even  pat 
him  on  the  back,  calling  him  his  good  boy.  For 
we  must  recollect  that  Unger  when  a  boy  was 
Froebel' s  pupil  in  the  Keilhau  school,  years  ago ; 
which  relation  Froebel  never  could  forget,  so 
true  of  him  and  of  the  rest  of  us  is  the  adage, 
"Once  a  schoolmaster  always  a  schoolmaster." 


THE  KINDERQARDEN  REALIZED.  327 

So  they  fought  out  their  three  years'  battle  in 
that  work-shop ;  if  linger  would  quit  in  a  storm 
of  wrath,  he  would  always  come  back,  for  he 
somehow  felt  that  just  this  was  the  grand  task 
of  his  life.  Certainly  Unger  could  not  have  been 
working  for  money  in  that  moneyless  business  with 
that  moneyless  man,  Frederick  Froebel.  From 
drawing-lessons  given  to  outsiders  he  will  earn 
enough  for  sustenance;  a  piece  of  sausage,  black 
bread,  and  smear-cheese  will  furnish  the  blood 
and  brain  for  making  these  pictures,  which  have 
in  them  immortality.  (46) 

So  hold  fast  to  thy  task,  strong-hearted  pic- 
ture maker,  though  enduring  much;  of  all  the 
pictures  made  on  this  globe,  thine  are  destined  to 
be  looked  upon  by  a  vaster  multitude  of  human 
eyes  than  the  pictures  of  any  other  mortal  artist, 
even  if  he  be  a  Raphael  or  a  Michel  Angelo.  The 
greatest  of  all  picture  books  for  little  children  is 
thine,  being  so  closely  bound  up  with  the  kinder- 
garden,  from  which  it  will  never  be  divorced. 
Over  Europe,  over  America,  the  shapes  of  thy 
pencil  are  scattered,  yea  into  Asia;  in  Japan 
they  have  been  reproduced  for  the  Japanese  little 
ones  with  a  curious  Japanese  transformation  in 
their  outlines,  through  which,  however,  we  can 
still  see  the  hand  of  Frederick  Unger,  as  it  drew 
soulful  figures  in  the  small  village  of  Blankenburg 
not  yet  sixty  years  ago. 


328  THE   LIFE    OF   FKOEBEL. 

V. 

The  System  Completed. 

In  September,  1843,  the  work  on  the  book  of 
Mother  Play-songs  had  so  far  progressed  that  the 
letter-press  could  be  given  to  the  printer.  Not 
till  the  beginning  of  1844  could  the  leaves  be 
bound  and  the  book  launched  on  the  market. 

From  the  start  it  met  with  criticism  and  de- 
rision. And  at  the  first  glance  it  still  seems  a 
ridiculous  production.  By  no  means  is  it  a  flaw- 
less piece  of  work ;  indeed  it  is  remarkable  for 
the  number  and  peculiar  nature  of  its  flaws.  But 
its  defects  pertain  almost  wholly  to  its  form,  not 
to  its  idea,  which  is  of  the  highest  and  noblest. 
Its  artistic  sins  are  indeed  many  — in  it  can  be 
found  bad  poetry,  bad  prose,  bad  pictures ;  but 
the  spirit  is  there,  and  the  spirit  is  what  makes 
it  immortal.  Tried  by  a  formal  literary  standard 
it  falls  far  short ;  but  in  educative  originality  it 
still  awaits  its  peer.  Its  soul  seems  careless, 
almost  defiant  of  its  vesture ;  still  it  becomes  at 
last  fascinating  in  its  very  audacity.  The  idea 
gets  itself  expressed,  not  so  much  by  means  of 
as  in  spite  of  its  form,  and  so  its  study  turns  to 
a  kind  of  initiation  into  Froebel's  apostolate. 
Rather  pitiful  is  that  educator  who  can  see  and 
exploit  only  its  shortcomings,  which  nobody  has 
ever  denied.  Very  marvelous  is  the  phenome- 
non :  with  enough  imperfections  hung  around  its 


THE  KINDERaARDEN  REALIZED.  329 

neck  to  drag  it  down  to  the  very  bottom  of  the 
sea  of  oblivion,  it  still  keeps  afloat,  triumphantly 
swimming  down  the  stream  of  Time  with  an 
ever-increasing  buoyancy.  The  person  who 
enters  truly  into  its  spirit,  gets  not  only  some 
flickering  educational  light  about  this  and  that 
topic,  but  he  is  transformed,  he  undergoes  a 
genuine  conversion,  for  he  has  heard  the  sacred 
Gospel  of  the  Little  Child.  But  it  requires  pa- 
tience at  the  start,  yea,  some  degree  of  literary 
self-denial  —  more  faith,  less  wit,  more  charity, 
less  criticism ;  then  it  will  yield  up  its  secret,  for 
it  is  and  will  remain  the  chief  canonical  Book  in 
the  Kindergarden  Bible. 

Finally  the  work  is  done,  not  however,  without 
a  serious  last  obstacle.  What  is  the  matter  now? 
Lack  of  funds ;  the  treasury  is  absolutely  empty, 
and  every  little  fountain-rill  feeding  it  has  run 
dry.  But  in  the  very  crisis,  behold  again!  A 
small  inheritance  from  his  wife's  estate  comes 
trickling  down  from  above  somewhere  into  that 
dried-up  money-box,  and  once  more  Life  and 
radiant  Hope  appear  in  a  fresh  incarnation,  for 
the  child,  after  so  many  and  such  prolonged 
birth-pains,  is  actually  born  and  set  out  into  the 
world. 

And  on  the  title-page  at  the  bottom  let  us  note 
the  significant  fact:  "  Blankenburg,  near  Rudol- 
stadt,  published  by  the  Institute  for  Little  Chil- 
dren," that  is  published  by  Froebel  himself. 


330  THE    LIFE    OF   FEOEBEL. 

No  publisher  again,  as  in  the  case  of  The 
Education  of  Man,  no  great  publishing  firm  of 
Berlin  or  Leipzig  has  its  name  on  the  title-page ; 
and  that  book  which  many  regard  as  the  greatest 
modern  educational  work,  would  never  have 
existed  if  it  had  depended  on  a  publisher. 
Froebel  would  have  gladly  shifted  the  cares 
of  publication  and  of  the  whole  business  upon 
a  younger  man,  or  upon  a  publishing  firm,  but 
even  friendly  Doerfling  of  Leipzig,  who  was 
in  the  book-trade,  was  evidently  afraid  to  touch 
the  work.  (47) 

Again  we  hear  a  running  shriek  of  condemna- 
tion from  writers  who  berate  Froebel  for  his 
lack  of  all  business  capacity,  because  he  printed 
and  published  his  own  book.  But  he  c.ould  not 
help  himself.  Imagine  Froebel  with  his  long 
hair,  peculiar  antiquated  costume,  sunburnt 
homely  face,  entering  the  dainty  fastidious  office 
of  a  great  Leipzig  publisher,  who  would  be  sure 
to  get  a  dose  of  the  New  Idea  in  language  unin- 
telligible to  any  publisher  that  ever  lived.  To 
such  a  man  or  to  his  taster,  imagine  Froebel 
offering  this  Book  of  Mother  Play-songs,  and 
explaining  a  sample  of  its  contents.  Or  for  that 
matter,  imagine  William  Shakespeare  appearing 
in  London  to-day  and  offering  to  one  of  its  great 
publishers  the  manuscript  of  Hamlet.  Or,  rising, 
to  the  top  of  the  argument,  let  us  imagine  Him 
who  spake  as  never  man  spake,  bringing  a  book 


THE  KINDERGARDEN  REALIZED.          331 

of  His  collected  sayings,  called  The  Four  Gos- 
pels, to  a  New  York  publisher  —  would  it  be 
accepted?  Every  honest  publisher  will  con- 
"fess  that  in  his  publishing  house  the  Lord  him- 
self would  stand  no  chance. 

All  of  which  simply  means  that  the  truly  orig- 
inal work,  which  has  to  fight  its  way  in  the 
world,  and  slowly  to  make  its  own  public,  lacks 
salability,  which  is  the  fundamental  fact  with 
the  publisher.  Not  till  the  book  with  its  author 
has  been  crucified,  does  it  become  a  fit  subject  for 
publication.  So  Froebel,  having  faith  in  his 
work,  had  not  only  to  write  itf  but  to  print,  plant 
and  publish  it,  if  need  be,  with  his  heart's  blood, 
or  be  false  to  the  deepest  call  of  his  own  soul. 
So  in  this  matter  Froebel  shows  again  the  gran- 
itic foundation  of  his  character,  and  it  is  110 
wonder  that  his  example  calls  forth  in  his  fol- 
lowers not  merely  an  acceptance  of  his  doctrines, 
but  a  unique  apostolic  devotion  to  his  cause. 

With  the  completion  of  the  Mother  Play-song, 
the  whole  system  of  the  kindergarden  is  fairly 
complete.  It  has.  still  to  grow,  but  the  organism 
is  on  hand,  and  it  is  the  organism  which  is  hence- 
forth to  grow.  Its  main  doctrines  as  well  as  its 
chief  means  of  instruction  are  in  print.  So 
everything  seems  to  have  gotten  itself  in  readi- 
ness for  a  great  new  step  forward  out  of  Blanken- 
burg,  out  of  the  narrow  confined  horizon  in  which 
Froebel  has  penned  himself  up  for  several  years. 


332  THE    LIFE    OF   FEOEBEL. 

Let  us  look  for  a  moment  at  what  has  been 
done.  Without  going  into  details  here,  we  be- 
hold the  three  great  constituents  of  the  kin- 
dergarden  organism  wrought  out  and  working 
together  in  an  ordered  Whole.  These  are :  - 

I.  The  Play-gifts,  in  a  well-rounded  series  with 
material  and  printed  directions. 

II.  The  Play-songs,  collected  and  ordered  in 
the  book  already  mentioned. 

III.  The   Play-ring    (or    circle),  long  known 
among  children,  but  taken  up  and  utilised  anew 
by   Froebel.     In  psychological  order  the  Play- 
ring  will  be  placed  first. 

What  next?  Forth  into  the  wide  world  he 
must  go  again  and  sow  the  fields,  but  under 
changed  circumstances;  now  with  his  sower's 
sheet  full  of  good  seed-corn,  he  can  in  time 
justly  expect  the  harvest.  The  watchword  is 
henceforth  propagation,  which  will  have  many 
ups  and  downs,  making  a  good  deal  of  history, 
to  which  we  shall  devote  our  final  chapter. 


CHAPTER   THIRD. 

THE  KINDERQARDEN  PROPAGATED. 

We  have  now  reached  the  last  epoch  of  Froe- 
bel's  life,  that  epoch  which  is  specially  devoted 
to  the  dissemination  of  his  work.  This  is  the 
new  propaganda,  somewhat  different  from  the 
former  one,  which  had  no  sufficient  basis.  But 
now  his  system  is  fairly  complete,  though  not 
finished ;  it  is  ready  for  the  planting.  He  can 
organize  the  Kindergarden  with  its  Play-circle, 
its  Play-gift,  and  its  Play-song.  Moreover,  he 
can  furnish  materials  from  his  little  factory. 
Then,  too,  he  has  a  small  department  of  publica- 
tion, in  which  the  literature  of  the  new  cause  can 
be  printed  and  disseminated.  He  has  likewise  a 
text-book  for  his  training  class,  the  keystone  of 
his  system,  his  Book  of  Mother  Play-songs. 

(333) 


334  THE   LIFE    OF    FROEBEL. 

That  which  he  has  brooded  over  and  worked  over 
during  the  last  four  years  in  particular,  must  be 
scattered  like  seed  throughout  all  Germany; 
what  he  has  found,  he  must  impart.  Thus 
equipped  for  his  fresh  attack  upon  the  demons  of 
Darkness,  our  last  Teutonic  knight  sallies  forth 
from  his  Blankenburg  (literally  the  Shining 
Castle)  with  his  heart  bent  upon  helping  the 
most  helpless  of  all  creation,  the  little  ones,  the 
infants  of  humanity. 

The  present  period  extends  from  1844  to  the 
end  of  Froebel's  life  in  1852.  He  is  sixty-two 
years  old ;  at  an  age  when  most  men  think  of 
retiring  from  the  conflicts  of  existence,  or  at  least 
of  devoting  themselves  to  a  more  quiet  kind  of 
effort,  he  plans  his  greatest,  most  active  cam- 
paign. Single-handed  he  goes  forth,  aided  only 
by  the  friends  whom  he  can  enlist  in  his  cause, 
but  not  by  any  high  patron,  not  by  any  great 
publisher,  not  by  any  influential  School,  or  Uni- 
versity, or  Church,  or  Association.  If  a  society 
helps  him,  he  has  first  to  organize  that  society ; 
if  a  teacher  is  to  instruct  in  his  doctrine,  he  has 
usually  to  train  that  teacher.  Amid  keen  oppo- 
sition he  pursues  his  career  of  planting;  for 
eight  years  he  keeps  up  the  struggle  with  uncon- 
querable valor,  till  he  lies  down  to  his  final  rest 
in  the  bosom  of  his  primeval  Mother.  But  he 
does  his  work,  does  it  for  once  and  for  all,  in 
spite  of  the  heaviest  blows  of  the  Destroyer. 


THE  KINDERGARDEN  PROPAGATED.        335 

Nor  must  we  forget,  in  the  present  record,  the 
inner  movement  of  Froebel's  own  development. 
The  great  trainer  is  himself  to  be  put  under  train- 
ing just  in  this  training  period  of  his  life;  ere  he 
can  reach  to  others  the  perfect  flower  of  his  soul, 
he  too  has  to  unfold,  he  must  be  sent  to  school. 
Very  deeply  absorbed  he  has  been  in  the  Idea, 
just  a  little  too  deeply ;  he  has  lived  in  his  doc- 
trine, excellent  as  it  is,  somewhat  too  partially 
and  unreservedly ;  he  is  in  danger  of  becoming 
an  abstraction  and  flying  off  into  pure  ether, 
where  no  mortal  can  follow  him.  Let  him  be 
brought  back  to  life  and  to  the  individual  in 
flesh  and  blood,  say  the  unseen  ruling  Powers 
which  preside  over  his  destiny  and  yours  and 
mine.  But  what  means  are  they  going  to 
use? 

Frederick  Froebel,  old  as  he  is  and  good  as  he 
is,  has  to  be  dipped  once  more  in  the  Fountain  of 
Love  —  the  Love  of  man  and  woman,  the  well- 
head and  original  of  all  Love,  of  God  and  of 
Man,  on  Earth  and  in  Heaven  —  ere  he  can  truly 
impart  his  doctrine  with  Love  going  out  in  over- 
flowing measure  to  the  child  and  to  the  race.  A 
fresh  baptism  in  the  primordial  sources  of  the 
human  heart  he  has  to  have,  for  his  own  sake 
and  for  the  sake  of  his  cause ;  then  he  will  rise 
up  re-born  to  youth  and  tireless  activity  and  en- 
thusiasm ;  then  too  he  can  train  kindergardners 
with  the  consecration  of  the  soul  to  love  of  the 


336  THE    LIFE    OF   FROEBEL. 

little  child,  which  is  his  own,    and   which    will 
beget  an  apostolic  zeal  in  all  his  followers. 

Such  is  the  inner  discipline,  the  discipline  of 
Love,  which  Froebel  is  still  to  pass  through  with 
its  softening  of  the  spirit,  of  the  outward  man- 
ner, even  of  the  voice  till  his  whole  being  ten- 
derly throbs  in  response  to  the  least  movement  of 
that  speechless  little  soul  of  the  infant  gazing 
into  his  face.  Some  time  during  these  last  days 
of  his  he  will  declare :  « «  The  greatest  thing  I 
possess  is  that  I  am  still  a  child  in  my  old 
age." 

And  the  curious  reader  of  the  preceding  narra- 
tive may  possibly  here  inquire  in  advance :  Is  he 
now  to  be  spared  from  that  blow  of  Nemesis, 
which  has  hitherto  appeared  to  be  hanging  over 
him  everywhere,  and  which  is  always  ready  to 
descend  upon  him  just  at  his  happiest  moment? 
Let  the  record  tell,  to  which  now  we  must  at  once 
proceed. 

I. 

The  Wandering  Propagandist 

In  July,  1844,  Froebel  makes  a  start  from 
Blankenburg,  his  little  isolated  world,  in  which 
he  has  been  penned  for  four  years  and  longer, 
and  enters  the  great  world,  which  is  henceforth 
to  be  the  field,  the  seed-field  of  his  endeavor. 
An  insuppressible  impulse  to  wander  and  to  plant 
comes  over  him,  he^rnust  give  what  he  has  gotten 


THE  KINDERGARDEN  PROPAGATED.       337 

or  perish  of  an  inner  surfeit.  With  a  light  heart 
we  may  see  him  stepping  along,  his  genius  winged 
with  the  new  Idea  and  upbearing  him  toward  his 
goal. 

Something  of  the  vagabond  lay  deep  in  the 
nature  of  Froebel,  as  in  that  of  so  many  other 
prophets  and  seekers  of  the  ideal.  In  every 
leading  epoch  of  his  life  he  was  impelled  to  leave 
old  surroundings  and  to  wander  to  fresh  pastures,* 
always  in  search  of  something  better,  of  some 
higher  attainment  for  himself  or  for  others.  In 
his  youth  he  meandered  much  till  he  reached 
Jena ;  there  through  many  tortuous  shif tings'  he 
came  to  Frankfort,  and  finally  to  Pestalozzi; 
more  recently  he  again  wormed  his  way  back  to 
Switzerland.  So  he  has  gone  zigzagging  through 
life,  chiefly  for  the  purpose  of  gaining  and  gath- 
ering; but  now  he  wanders  to  plant,  not  to  reap, 
and  it  is  to  be  his  last  wandering  on  this  planet, 
itself  a  kind  of  wanderer  (planetes)  of  the  skies 
outwardly,  but,  to  inward  vision,  governed  by 
strict  law,  which  bids  it  always  return  to  the  be- 
ginning of  its  career  (or  orbit). 

The  first  place  to  which  he  bends  his  steps  is 
Frankfort-on-the-Main,  a  city  to  which  he  con- 
tinually comes  back  when  he  wishes  to  make  a 
fresh  start.  There  it  was  that  he  once  heard 
from  Gruner  the  pivotal  word  of  his  whole 
career,  Be  a  teacher;  thence  he  sets  out  for 
Yverdon  for  his  first  training;  thence,  too,  after 

22 


338  THE   LIFE    OF    FROEBEL, 

the  Keilhau  collapse,  he  goes  forth  with  Schnyder 
to  begin  life  over  again  in  Wartensee.  And 
now,  on  crossing  the  little  border  of  Blanken- 
burg,  his  soul's  invisible  magnet  draws  him  to 
Frankfort  as  the  starting-point  for  his  last  and 
greatest  itinerary.  He  takes  Middendorf  along, 
his  fellow-soldier  for  life,  in  this  new  war  of  liber- 
ation; he  makes  visits  to  old  friends,  he  gives 
lectures,  he  puts  fresh  courage  into  the  hearts  of 
disciples,  two  of  whom  had  already  opened  kin- 
dergardens  at  Frankfort  —  both  of  them  men, 
be  it  noted. 

A  start  has  been  made,  the  two  friends  move 
forth  on  their  journey,  having  Heidelberg  as 
their  present  goal,  seat  of  a  famous  University. 
On  the  way  Froebel  stops  at  a  small  place  called 
Nieder-Ingelheim,  long  enough  to  fling  out  a 
handful  of  seed  on  a  little  patch  of  good  soil. 
Arriving  at  Heidelberg  he  finds  an  old  friend, 
Von  Leonhardi,  also  a  propagator,  living  solely 
for  the  purpose  of  propagating  Krause's  philo- 
sophic doctrines,  having  married  not  only 
Krause's  philosophy,  but  what  is  far  better, 
having  married  Krause's  daughter,  the  lovely 
Sidonia,  who  once  flitted  across  our  path  in 
Switzerland.  Many  reminiscences  of  that  not- 
able visit  which  Froebel  once  paid  to  Krause  at 
Gottingen,  were  brought  up ;  and  the  reader  has 
not  forgotten  (we  hope)  the  two  unappreciated 


THE  KINDERGARDEN  PROPAGATED.        339 

geniuses  who  then  met  in  deep  sympathy  and 
mutual  consolation. 

Here  Middendorf  is  compelled  to  separate  from 
Froebel  and  return  to  Keilhau,  for  he  had  to 
think  of  bread,  as  he  has  a  family  and  a  large 
one,  dependent  on  him.  Froebel  is  a  widower, 
solitary  in  the  world ;  let  him  sow  a  while  by 
himself,  picking  up  his  food  as  he  can,  like  the 
wandering  birds  of  the  skies.  The  separation 
from  Heidelberg  moves  Middendorf  to  versify- 
ing, he  sends  back  a  little  poem  to  his  friends 
there,  full  of  sweet  little  turns  and  emotional 
exclamations.  He  goes  home  by  way  of  Darm- 
stadt where  he  finds  friendly  welcome ;  this  calls 
forth  another  poem  which  has  been  printed. 

Thus  Middendorf  cannot  *  help  scattering 
rhymes  along  his  path,  in  accord  with  his  well- 
attuned  nature,  which  spontaneously  utters  itself 
in  verse.  This  tendency  the  reader  may  again 
bring  to  mind,  as  it  is  our  view  that  Middendorf 
had  a  chief  part  in  making  the  rhymes  of  the 
Mother  Play-songs.  In  this  journey  and  others 
Froebel  seems  to  show  no  such  bent. 

Froebel,  now  alone,  passes  to  Darmstadt  where 
there  is  a  prospect  of  a  new  kindergarden.  But 
he  finds  matters  not  yet  prepared  for  him,  so  his 
restless  spirit  drives  across  the  country  into  the 
valley  of  the  Rhine,  where  he  first  comes  to 
Mayence,  and  then  moves  up  the  river  to  Cologne. 
Unintermitted  is  his  advocacy  of  the  Idea;  he 


340  THE    LIFE    OF    FROEBEL. 

even  tackles  the  editor  of  the  Cologne  Gazette , 
and  wrings  out  of  the  editorial  sphinx  at  least  a 
promise  of  support.  He  then  wheels  about  and 
returns;  at  Wiesbaden  he  wins  an  important 
man,  Dr.  Schliephake,  who  will  later  do  impor- 
tant service  for  the  cause.  Touching  at  Frank- 
fort, he  again  goes  on  to  Darmstadt,  and  finds 
there  one  of  his  favorite  kindergardners,  who  had 
in  the  meantime  arrived  to  take  charge  of  the 
work.  Her  name  was  Ida  Seele,  that  is,  Ida 
Soul,  or  Ida  the  soulful,  of  which  name  she  was 
worthy,  according  toFroebel,  whose  love  of  pun- 
ning ran  so  deep  that  sometimes  it  appears  ac- 
tually serious. 

And  still  the  Darmstadt  business  seems  not  yet 
ready  for  him — 'Something  must  be  the  matter. 
At  any  rate  his  impatience  again  drives  him  forth, 
this  time  in  the  opposite  direction,  toward  the 
South;  he  visits  Carlsruhe,  Stuttgart,  Heidelberg 
once  more,  talking,  lecturing,  playing,  inspecting 
all  the  institutions  for  little  children,  planting  the 
Idea  in  every  soul  that  would  listen.  After  this 
sweep  around  the  adjacent  country  he  comes  back 
to  Darmstadt  for  the  third  time,  where  he  stays 
three  months  occupied  in  training  kindergardners 
and  organizing  the  work. 

Here,  however,  he  becomes  involved  in  a  con- 
flict with  a  Dr.  Folsing,  a  popular  writer  on 
Infant  Schools,  and  a  practical  worker  in  this 
field.  At  first  the  two  agreed  and  co-operated, 


THE  KINDERGARDEN  PROPAGATED.        341 

but  finally  fell  to  dissension  and  open  rupture, 
which  found  expression  in  public  print.  Into 
this  dispute  we  need  not  enter.  Kindergardners 
have  enough  of  such  controversy  at  their  own 
doors,  for  are  they  not  perpetually  engaged  in  il- 
lustrating the  law  of  opposites,  with  the  mediation 
left  out  usually?  Dr.  Folsing  objected  to  the 
name  kindergarden,  and  to  its  methodical  train- 
ing, both  of  which,  however,  have  survived  his 
attack.  And  where  is  he?  His  chief  fame  at 
present  seems  to  rest  upon  his  quarrel  with  Froe- 
bel.  He  succeeded,  however,  in  keeping Froebel's 
kindergardner,  Ida  Seele,  to  whom  the  latter 
wrote  afterwards  a  sharp  reproof  for  her  aban- 
donment of  the  name  kindergarden. 

During  this  period  another  activity  of  Froebel 
comes  into  prominence,  that  of  founding  socie- 
ties of  men,  and  specially  of  fathers,  for  advanc- 
ing '  his  educational  ends.  Previously  he  had 
expected  his  chief  support  to  come  from  the 
women;  now  he  seems  to  have  dropped  them 
and  to  have  gone  over  to  the  men  for  help,  since 
the  new  organizations  appear  to  have  been  wholly 
niade  up  of  males.  What  is  the  matter?  He 
seems  to  have  lost  his  faith  in  the  female  unions, 
after  the  grand  failure  of  the  Blankenburg 
scheme,  in  which  the  women  were  to  raise  the 
money  for  the  stock,  100,000  thalers.  Four 
years  have  passed  since  that  time,  small  is  the 
subscription,  and  still  smaller  the  hope ;  in  fact, 


342  THE    LIFE    OF    FROEBEL. 

it  is  plain  to  all  except  Froebel  himself,  that 
even  the  Blankenburg  kindergarden  will  have  to 
be  given  up  for  lack  of  support.  Eeally,  that  is 
the  chief  reason  why  Middendorf  has  had  to 
hurry  home.  In  the  Blankenburg  affair  the 
wives  had  to  endure  much  teasing  from  their 
husbands,  and  even  from  their  own  sex,  so  that 
they  appear  to  have  been  stampeded  and  to  have 
taken  to  flight,  leaving  poor  Froebel  in  the  lurch, 
literally  poor,  that  is,  penniless.  The  woman 
will  courageously  face  danger,  as  everybody 
knows ;  she  will  stand  up  before  any  kind  of 
missiles,  except  one,  the  shafts  of  ridicule. 
When  these  begin  to  buzz  about  her  ears,  the 
female  heart  grows  panicky ;  she  is  sure  to  pick 
up  her  skirts  and  run  to  the  nearest  cover,  with 
manifest  signs  of  demoralization.  Even  an  Ama- 
zonian camp  has  been  seen  to  fall  into  a  state  of 
wild  uproar  and  consternation  merely  by  the  ex- 
plosion of  a  little  bomb  of  laughing-gas  thrown 
by  a  wag  into  its  midst.  And  if  a  bold  band  of 
modern  warrior  maids  fighting  for  their  rights 
cannot  stand  the  little  snapping  and  sizzling  of  a 
wit-cracker, what  can  be  expected  of  modest  Ger- 
man housewives  of  Blankenburg  and  vicinity. 

So,  the  women  having  quit  Froebel,  Froebel 
has  to  quit  the  women.  At  least  thus  it  is  for  a 
time,  and  the  occurrence  indicates  a  change  in 
the  standpoint  of  the  author  of  the  Mother  Play- 
songs,  who  in  that  book  places  the  mother  in  the 


UNIVERSITY 


THE  KINDERGARDEN  PROPAGATED.        343 

center  of  the  family  and  makes  her  the  sole  edu- 
cator of  her  child,  the  father  being  quite  left  out. 
Still  the  mothers  have  not  supported  him  in  his 
great  enterprise.  So  he  turns  and  makes  his 
new  appeal  to  the  fathers,  organizing  the  above- 
mentioned  societies  with  much  labor  and  zeal. 

We  may,  however,  here  take  a  glance  into  the 
future  and  say  that  this  project  also  is  destined 
to  an  untimely  end.  As  might  be  expected,  he 
will  find  the  men  harder  to  rouse  than  the 
women,  he  will  discover  that  the  fathers  are 
more  indifferent  than  the  mothers  to  his  cause, 
which  is  that  of  infant  education.  About  De- 
cember, 1844,  he  began  the  present  work  with 
the  fathers,  he  will  continue  it  for  three  or  four 
years,  and  then  will  go  back  to  the  women.  But 
it  will  be  a  new  set,  and  he  will  have  a  new  pur- 
pose ;  from  the  training  of  the  mother  he  will 
pass  to  the  training  of  the  kindergardner  with 
her  new  vocation  in  the  social  order.  Whereof 
something  more  will  be  said  later  on. 

Such  was  Froebel's  first  journey  of  propaga- 
tion; he  went  through  the  valleys  of  the  Rhine, 
Main,  and  Neckar,  sowing  his  seed  in  many  a 
city  and  village.  It  is  noticeable  that  he  has 
sought  to  influence  men  chiefly,  we  read  of  but 
few  women  in  this  trip.  But  the  male  mind  is 
not  the  most  congenial  soil  for  his  Idea ;  still 
this  experience  he  has  to  pass  through  in  order 
to  know.  The  woman's  soul  is  the  true  seedfielcl 


344  THE    LIFE    OF    FEOEBEL. 

for  him  when  he  has  rightly  found  her ;  but  this 
is  not  yet,  though  he  is  going  thitherward. 
Amazing  is  the  activity  he  has  shown,  a  down- 
right outpour  of  exuberant  youthful  energy, 
pluck  and  even  hilarity ;  he  may  well  look  back 
with  delight  on  his  journeyings  overarched  by 
rainbows  of  hope.  Little  or  no  gain  did  he 
gather  from  his  efforts,  quite  satisfied  to  pick  up 
his  food,  like  the  wandering  fowls  of  the  air, 
along  the  path  of  his  migrations. 

But  autumn  has  gone  and  winter  is  passing, 
he  must  turn  his  footsteps  toward  home.  There- 
with the  bright  bow  of  promise  rapidly  vanishes 
into  a  dark,  forbidding  cloud.  He  has  to  quit 
Blankenburg,  the  cradle  of  the  kindergarden, 
and  its  chief  dwelling-place  and  center  for  seven 
years.  Such  is  the  lamentable  outcome  of  the 
grand  speculation :  the  great  German  kindergar- 
den never  got  to  be,  and  the  little  Blankenburg 
kindergarden  must  cease  to  be.  In  floating  his 
bonds  no  fraud  has  been  alleged,  indeed  the 
bonds  were  never  floated  to  any  extent.  Froebel 
never  would  deceive  anybody ;  in  fact  he  never 
possessed  the  power  to  deceive  anybody  but  him- 
self, and  this  latter  power  he  did  possess  in  a 
very  considerable  degree. 

Then  follows  another  disagreeable  necessity : 
he  must  remove  his  kindergarden  to  Keilhau,  if 
it  is  to  continue  its  existence.  It  took  all  the 
gentle,  persuasive  eloquence  of  Middendorf  to 


TEE  KINDEEGARDEN  PROPAGATED.       345 

reconcile  Froebel  to  such  a  step.  But  he  could 
not  help  himself,  for  he  had  no  money,  and  Barop 
was  holding  the  purse-strings  tight,  had  to  do  so, 
else  Keilhau  too  would  go  to  the  wall,  as  it  did 
not  come  out  of  the  grand  speculation  unscathed. 
Such  was  the  new  move  which  had  been  resolved 
upon,  and  which  had  caused  Middendorf  to  hurry 
home  from  Heidelberg,  as  he  knew  a  storm  was 
brewing.  Barop' s  course  was  justifiable,  though 
Froebel  at  times  would  let  fly  the  curse  upon  his 
head  for  parsimony  and  disloyalty.  But  both 
Barop  and  Middendorf  now  had  families  growing 
up,  which  could  not  be  sacrificed  to  Froebel' s 
Idea.  Very  different  was  the  situation  at  present 
from  what  it  was  twenty  years  ago  in  the  first 
period  of  Keilhau,  when  both  were  young  men, 
single,  capable  of  endurance.  Then  both  did  sur- 
render themselves  to  Froebel' s  cause  and  suf- 
fered. No  doubt  the  women  of  the  families, 
particularly  Frau  Middendorf,  added  a  vigorous 
protest  against  yielding  to  the  demands  of  Uncle 
Froebel,  whose  remorseless  Idea  they  knew  and 
feared  as  an  all-devouring  Moloch  for  themselves 
and  their  children  and  their  husbands. 

Under  such  circumstances  the  atmosphere  of 
Keilhau  could  not  have  been  pleasant  breathing 
for  Froebel.  Still  his  other  self,  his  Middendorf 
was  there  to  help  him,  to  shield  him,  to  encour- 
age him  in  his  great  work,  yea  to  perform  a 
priestly  mediatorial  function  for  his  friend's  soul 


346  THE    LIFE    OF    F  ROE  BEL. 

in  moments  of  inner  rending  and  deep  despair. 
Froebel  had  been  used  to  exercising  authority 
unlimited;  there  was  an  imperious  element 
deeply  rooted  in  his  character ;  but  now  he  feels 
restraint  on  every  side  just  in  the  place  where  he 
was  once  absolute  master ;  he  was  treated  with 
respect,  and  even  with  gratitude,  still  in  all  the 
arrangements  of  the  school  there  lurked  a  word 
of  command  :  Hands  off.  Keilhau  became  to  him 
a  bed  of  thorns,  or  perchance  in  accord  with  its 
name,  a  real  wedge  driven  by  fate  into  his  sensi- 
tive spirit.  Then  the  training  school  there  was 
not  a  success  in  spite  of  Middendorf's  efforts, 
having  but  four  pupils. 

Not  many  weeks  did  Froebel  stay  at  Keilhau 
this  time;  apparently,  as  soon  as  he  could  scrape 
enough  money  together,  he  set  out  on  another 
trip,  April  19th,  1845,  we  find  him  at  Dresden, 
being  present  at  the  wedding  of  Adolph  Frank- 
enberg  and  Luise  Herrman,  two  of  his  ardent 
disciples,  who  had  founded  a  flourishing  kinder- 
garden.  They  moved  from  old  to  new  quarters 
while  Froebel  was  there,  he  marching  at  the 
head  of  the  procession  of  children  bearing  flow- 
ers and  gifts.  Luise  Frankenberg,  as  she  will 
henceforth  be  known,  is  deserving  of  mention  as 
a  very  capable  and  devoted  woman,  who  wove  a 
thread  of  joy  through  the  old  man's  life  till  its 
close. 

From    Dresden    Froebel    goes    to    Halle,    and 


THE  KINDERGAEDEN  PROPAGATED.   347 

there  he  comes  in  contact  with  some  Free  Kelig- 
ionists  who  had  taken  an  interest  in  the  kinder- 
garden.  Later  this  step  was  cited  against  him  as 
indicating  his  theological  views,  and  possibly  did 
him  some  injury.  But  Froebel  could  not  help 
being  a  friend  to  every  friend  of  the  Idea,  be  he 
Jew  or  Gentile.  Froebel  was  preaching  the 
Gospel  of  the  little  Child  and  would  take  all  into 
his  fold  who  declared  their  faith  in  that.  To- 
ward the  established  church  in  Germany  he  prob- 
ably had  no  strong  leaning,  though  he  seems 
never  to  have  broken  with  it  outwardly. 

Again  in  1846,  as  in  the  previous  year  Froebel 
is  the  wandering  propagandist  of  his  doctrine. 
He  travels  over  a  new  territory,  with  his  sower's 
sheet  encompassing  him  round  the  heart,  reach- 
ing forth  his  hand  and  scattering  seed  on  all 
kinds  of  soil,  fertile  and  barren,  up  and  down 
the  valleys  and  over  the  hills,  seeking  also  to 
establish  wherever  he  could  a  society  of  fathers 
for  the  blessing  of  their  own  children. 

After  these  summer  excursions  we  find  him 
back  in  Keilhau,  November,  1846.  He  again 
starts  his  little  training-class,  which,  however, 
shows  decided  improvement  over  the  previous 
year,  when  he  had  only  four  pupils.  Improve- 
ment specially  in  the  quality  of  the  applicants  is 
marked  —  better  preparation,  greater  ability,  and 
the  full  measure  of  enthusiasm.  Through  such 
experience  Froebel  begins  to  change  back  from 


348  THE   LIFE    OF   FROEBEL. 

the  men  to  the  women  as  the  bearers  of  his  light. 
His  organization  of  the  fathers  was  but  too 
plainly  a  failure.  Out  of  that  darkness,  how- 
ever, a  new  hfminary  has  begun  its  dawning. 
What  is  it? 

More  plainly  does  the  future  promise  become 
visible  in  the  training  course  of  1847-8.  In  this 
year's  instruction  three  young  ladies  participated 
whose  names  must  be  mentioned,  as  they  form 
the  fairest  illuminated  figures  in  this  fresh  sun- 
burst of  Froebel's  hope.  Alwine  Middendorf, 
Luise  Frankenburg,  and  Luise  Levin,  are  the 
three  Graces,  or  the  three  Destinies,  who  gave 
Froebel  his  last  decisive  turn  and  sent  him  for- 
ward on  his  new  career.  For  they  now  bring  to 
his  vision  the  ideal  kindergardner  as  the  future 
propagator  and  upholder  of  his  work.  Now  the 
thought  stands  clear  before  him  that  he  must 
train  the  choicest  young  ladies  of  the  land  and 
the  time  to  be  his  defenders  and  his  apostles,  not 
so  much  through  the  word  as  through  the  deed. 
An  apostolic  band  of  missionaries,  they  will  be- 
come faithful  unto  death  and  transmit  his  spirit 
to  their  successors. 

Undoubtedly  Froebel  had  been  training  young 
ladies  in  his  work  for  muny  years,  indeed,  quite 
from  the  beginning;  but  he  seems -to  have  re- 
garded them  in  a  subordinate  light,  as  nurses, 
attendants,  companions  for  children.  His  mind 
was  fixed  on  the  mothers  at  first,  then  it  passed 


THE  KINDERGARDEN  PROPAGATED.        349 

to  the  fathers.  But  now  these  three  gifted, 
attractive,  independent  young  women  take  hold 
of  his  work,  and,  co-operating  in  joint  sympa- 
thetic effort,  infuse  into  it  a  new  spirit.  Above 
all  they  teach  Froebel  himself  a  lesson  which  he 
at  once  starts  to  apply;  in  fact,  he  learns  more 
than  they  do,  much  as  they  receive  from  his 
instruction. 

Personally  the  most  fascinating  was  Alwine 
Middendorf ,  veritably  the  daughter  of  her  father, 
having  inherited  his  imposing  figure  with  all  his 
charm  of  manner,  and  she  had  his  large,  blue, 
melting  eyes,  out  of  which  "  streamed  all  the 
heaven  of  poetry."  Also  she  was.  a  favorite 
with  her  grand-uncle  Froebel,  and  she  seems  to 
have  been  the  only  one  of  the  family  who  took 
the  kindergarden  training.  Then  came  Luise 
Frankenberg,  whose  marriage  has  been  already 
mentioned.  Well  educated,  the  daughter  of  a 
Professor,  full  of  noble  yearning ;  she  had  left  hus- 
band for  a  time,  and  her  Dresden  kindergarden, 
to  listen  to  the  prophet's  own  words  of  inspira- 
tion at  Keilhau.  Then  there  was  the  other 
Luise,  most  beloved  of  all,  Luise  Levin,  who  had 
already  wound  herself  more  deeply  into  Froebel' s 
life  than  any  other  pupil.  Hereby  hangs  a  tale 
which  is  hereafter  to  be  told. 

In  another  respect  it  is  claimed  that  Froebel, 
while  teaching  them,  took  an  important  lesson 
from  these  young  ladies.  Like  most  German 


350  THE    LIFE    OF    FROEBEL. 

women  they  were  deft  with  the  needle,  skillful  in 
sewing,  weaving,  knitting,  netting,  interlacing, 
and  other  fairy -fingered  works.  They  soon 
learned  what  he  had  to  give  them  in  this  line,  and 
then  gave  him  some  glimpses  into  their  own 
handiwork.  Thereby  his  attention  was  directed 
to  the  so-called  Occupations  more  than  it  ever  had 
been,  and  this  part  of  his  system  received  many 
significant  additions.  Still  it  is  a  mistake  to  say 
that  the  Occupations  were  now  used  by  him  for 
the  first  time ;  he  had  long  known  their  educa- 
tive value,  and  employed  some  of  them  in  the 
early  days  of  Keilhau.  Sewing,  weaving,  paper- 
folding,  etc.,  appear  in  the  plan  of  instruction 
for  the  school  which  he  projected  at  Helba  in 
1828.  (48) 

A  significant  event  in  the  life  of  Froebel  dur- 
ing this  period  was  the  Teachers'  Convention  at 
Eudolstadt,  in  June,  1848.  He  had  himself 
issued  the  call  for  the  purpose  of  bringing  his 
work  and  its  object  to  the  attention  of  the  Ger- 
man pedagogical  world.  He  distinctly  declares 
in  his  prospectus  his  opinion  that  the  kindergar- 
den  should  become  a  part  of  the  Public  School  Sys- 
tem supported  by  the  State.  The  education  of 
children  not  yet  of  school  age  was  to  be  the  theme. 
He  mentions  his  own  work  in  this  field,  which  he 
dates  back  ten  years,  to  the  beginning  at  Blan- 
kenburg  (1837—8).  It  is  also  noteworthy  that 
Froebel  in  this  document  signs  himself  the 


THE  KINDERGARDEN  PROPAGATED.        351 

principal  of  the  School  at  Keilhau,  showing  that 
he  still  laid  claim  to  his  former  position  in  the 
Universal  German  Institute. 

The  schoolmasters  met  and  broke  out  into 
quite  a  lively  skirmish  all  around.  There  was 
bitter,  prejudiced  opposition, peppered  with  hate; 
there  was  a  large  number  of  honest  seekers  whose 
inquiries  had  a  seasoning  of  doubt;  there  was  a 
cohort  of  warm  friends  ready  to  meet  any  attack. 
Froebel  was  the  center  and  chief  spokesman; 
such  a  bombarding  with  questions  he  had  never 
before  experienced.  The  nature  of  play  as  a 
means  of  instruction  would  not  lodge  itself  with 
any  degree  of  comfort  in  the  head  of  the  Ger- 
man schoolmaster,  who  cannot  help  sharing  in 
the  military  character  of  his  government  and  of 
his  absolute  sovereign.  Here  on  this  side  is  in- 
struction with  its  method,  its  drill;  there,  on 
that  side,  is  play,  with  its  caprice,  with  its  spon- 
taneity, devoid  of  all  method.  Oil  and  water 
will  not  mix.  Your  kindergarden  will  engender 
a  play-habit  in  school,  and  render  difficult  later 
instruction.  So  the  battle  swayed  around  in  a 
kind  of  undulation,  first  for  one  and  then  for 
the  other,  the  enemy  reiterating,  "  We  care  not 
for  your  school  in  play,  but  we  cannot  have  your 
play  in  school." 

Still,  on  the  whole,  victory  remained  with 
Froebel.  His  friends  resolved  to  present  his 
cause  to  the  German  National  Assembly  of  1848, 


352  THE    LIFE    OF    FROEBEL. 

then  in  session  at  Frankfort-on-the-Main.  This 
duty  was  assigned  to  Middendorf,  who  conse- 
quently wrote  his  little  work  on  the  kindergarden, 
which  has  been  considered  one  of  the  best  expo- 
sitions of  the  subject. 

There  is  no  doubt,  however,  that  this  appeal 
to  the  German  National  Assembly,  which  was  a 
product  of  the  popular  movement  of  1848,  caused 
offense  to  the  existing  powers.  Thereby  Froe- 
bel's  name  and  the  kindergarden  became  iden- 
tified with  the  free-thinkers,  revolutionists, 
assailants  of  the  established  order,  that  restless 
element  which  still  goes  under  the  name  of 
Forty-eighters.  When  the  time  of  the  re-action 
came,  the  count  erstroke  of  this  act  followed,  cul- 
minating in  the  prohibition  of  the  kindergarden 
by  Prussia.  And  it  must  be  added  that  Froebel 
always  did  connect  himself  with  the  German 
folk-movement,  rather  than  with  German  insti- 
tutions, though  he  never  directly  assailed  the 
latter. 

And  it  should  be  added,  for  the  sake  of  bring- 
ing to  light  the  fatal  chain  of  causation  in  which 
this  innocent  kindergarden  for  little  children  was 
getting  itself  involved,  that  Julius  Froebel  during 
these  very  days  (October,  1848),  was  helping- 
Nemesis  entangle  his  uncle  in  her  vengeful  net. 
He  was  engaged  in  a  revolutionary  outbreak  at 
Vienna,  was  taken  prisoner,  tried  and  condemned 
to  death,  but  was  permitted  to  escape  on  condi- 


THE  KINDEKGAEDEN  PROPAGATED.       353 

tion  of  quitting  Austria  in  twenty-four  hours. 
He  bore  the  name  Froebel,  was  educated  by 
Frederick  Froebel  at  Keilhau,  and  was  a  member 
of  the  German  National  Assembly  to  which  the 
appeal  for  the  kindergarden  had  been  addressed. 
No  wonder  the  family  Froebel  began  to  be  en- 
circled by  a  red  revolutionary  glare,  which  flashed 
the  name  in  crimson  colors  all  over  Germany, 
since  every  important  German  newspaper  must 
have  heralded  the  facts  above  stated.  (49) 

After  the  Teachers'  Convention,  Froebel  was 
called  to  Dresden  in  October,  1848,  through  the 
efforts  of  Luise  Frankenbere  who  had  gone  home 

O  O 

full  of  enthusiasm  and  sought  to  have  every 
woman  of  her  acquaintance  listen  to  the  prophet's 
wisdom.  The  result  was  a  larger  audience  for 
Froebel  than  he  had  ever  had.  He  formed  a 
training-class,  he  gave  instruction  daily  to  three 
different  divisions  of  pupils.  A  very  busy  man 
he  was  during  this  visit  at  Dresden.  Some  men 
also  attached  themselves  to  the  cause,  but  not 
many.  One  of  these  must  be  mentioned:  Bruno 
Marquart,  a  man  of  great  force  and  courage,  who 
established  a  training-school  for  kindergardners 
in  defiance  of  strong  opposition,  and  later  ( 1851) 
was  editor  of  the  Zeitschrift,  a  periodical  devoted 
to  the  cause  of  Froebel,  and  containing  some 
of  his  writings. 

A  change  in  Froebel' s  method  of  exposition 
became  noticeable  in  his  teaching  at  Dresden :  he 

23 


354  THE  LIFE    OF   FROEBEL. 

was  more  systematic,  he  sought  to  connect  his 
lessons  by  a  more  formal  procedure  than  previ- 
ously. Hereby  along  with  certain  advantages 
came  also  some  drawbacks.  As  he  delved  more 
deeply  and  formulated  his  work  in  abstract  prop- 
ositions, his  system  became  harder  to  under- 
stand, and  required  good  preparation  in  the  pupil, 
which  she  did  not  always  have.  But  she  too 
often  thought  she  understood  Froebel's  philoso- 
phy, if  she  only  learned  his  terms  and  could  rat- 
tle them  off  with  fluency.  Hence  it  came  that 
Froebel  alon^  with  excellent  kindergardners  sent 

o  o 

forth  a  goodly  number  of  caricatures  of  himself — 
young  ladies  with  considerable  assumption,  but 
with  little  wisdom.  There  are  indications  that 
Froebel  saw  the  need  of  certain  attainments  in 
the  applicant  for  his  training,  though  he  never 
enforced  them. 

Froebel  was  occupied  at  Dresden  during  the 
winter  of  1848-9.  He  had  met  with  fair  suc- 
cess, but  was  undergoing  his  own  mental  changes. 
First  of  all,  he  now  felt  that  he  must  have  his 
own  permanent  training-school  in  which  he  should 
be  the  supreme  controller.  To  be  attached  to 
another  school  as  a  kind  of  pendant  he  could  no 
longer  suffer  himself.  Dresden  could  not  give 
him  an  independent  position,  nor  could  Keilhau. 
His  own  institution  in  its  own  place,  untrammeled 
by  outside  exigencies  he  must  have,  he  will  have. 
With  some  such  resolve  he  quits  Dresden. 


THE  KINDERGARDEN  PROPAGATED.        355 

Still  further,  this  unsettled  life  of  the  wander- 
ing propagandist  must  be  brought  to  a  close,  if 
for  no  other  reason,  on  account  of  age.  Sixty- 
seven  years  old  and  still  roving,  roving ;  I  have 
sowed  my  seed,  or  perchance  my  wild  oats ;  it  is 
high  time  for  me  to  settle  down.  For  five  years 
I  have  led  this  restless,  peripatetic  life;  enough. 
I  shall  wind  it  up.  I  must  give  myself  wholly 
to  the  training  of  the  kindergardner,  creating  a 
new  vocation  for  the  woman  in  the  social  order  — 
a  vocation  deeply  consonant  with  her  nature. 

No  doubt,  too,  another  and  deeper  purpose 
had  entered  his  soul  and  was  stirring  him  to  the 
last  and  greatest  effort  of  his  life.  This  secret, 
all-compelling  motive,  mightier  than  any  other, 
underneath  all  the  rest,  we  must  now  set  forth. 

II. 

Liebenstein  —  Luise  Levin. 

Froebel  has  selected  as  the  site  of  his  new  and 
independent  training-school  a  well-known  water- 
ing-place in  Thuringia  called  Liebenstein,  or 
Bath  Liebenstein,  on  account  of  its  springs 
which  attracted  summer  guests  from  all  over  Ger- 
many. Beautiful  mountain  scenery  surrounded 
the  place  on  every  side;  connected  with  the 
neighborhood  were  historic  associations  dear  to 
the  German  heart.  Here  was  the  oak  of  St. 
Boniface,  whose  story  reaches  back  to  the  great 


356  THE   LIFE    OF   FROEBEL. 

transition  from  Heathendom  to  Christianity ;  here 
was  the  Luther  fountain,  out  of  which  the  great 
Reformer  is  said  to  have  slaked  his  thirst ;  in  the 
town  of  Mohra  not  far  away  was  his  birth-place. 
And  now  the  third  great  German  Reformer  has 
appeared,  and  proposes  to  begin  his  work  in  the 
same  locality. 

Liebenstein,  then,  is  the  chosen  spot,  whose 
name  signifies  the  Rock  of  Love.  It  will  vindi- 
cate its  title  to  Froebel,  who  had  an  almost 
superstitious  regard  for  the  meaning  of  names. 
It  is  probable  that  he  selected  the  place  partly  be- 
cause of  its  suggestive  designation.  Here  was 
also  the  home  of  the  ducal  court  of  Meiningen 
during  part  of  the  season ;  doubtless  Froebel  has 
an  eye  to  securing  its  interest  and  influence  for 
his  work.  So  Liebenstein,  the  Rock  of  Love,  is 
his  newly  chosen  home. 

In  the  spring  of  1849,  after  his  winter's  activ- 
ity in  Dresden  he  had  returned  first  to  Keilhau. 
But  he  could  stay  there  no  longer ;  more  than 
ever  the  locality  has  become  distasteful  to  him,  a 
downright  impossibility  for  the  home  which  is 
now  throbbing  in  every  heart-beat.  His  claim  is 
that  the  physical  environment  of  Keilhau  is  un- 
suitable, that  nature  there  is  not  friendly  to  a 
training-school  for  young  ladies.  These  are  his 
words :  "In  Keilhau  such  an  institution  could 
never  prosper;  just  look  at  the  mountains  and 


THE  KINDERGABDEN  PROPAGATED.        357 

the  surrounding  landscape  and  feel  with  me: 
nature  will  not  have  it  there." 

But  we  know  other  and  stronger  reasons  why 
Keilhau  was  not  acceptable.  A  tight  rein  was 
kept  upon  him  financially;  where  he  was  once 
absolute  monarch,  he  was  now  a  limited  subject. 
It  is  true  that  Middendorf ,  his  most  devoted 
friend  and  disciple,  was  there;  and  principal 
Bar  op  was  well-disposed,  though  he  had  to  be 
firm  in  money  matters  with  the  old  man,  whose 
irreclaimable  tendency  was  to  fling  everything 
and  everybody  into  the  insatiate  maw  of  the 
Idea.  But  the  women  of  the  household,  his  own 
nieces,  the  Froebel  girls  of  the  early  Keilhau 
period,  two  of  them  mothers  with  children  grown 
and  growing-up,  were  not  so  tractable  toward 
uncle  Frederick ;  they  could  not  forget  what  they 
had  gone  through  in  the  past  under  his  adminis- 
tration, and  they  naturally  felt  some  anxiety  for 
the  future  of  their  offspring,  of  their  husbands, 
and  of  themselves. 

And  now  must  be  mentioned  the  deepest 
reason,  in  fact  the  real  though  secret  reason  for 
the  new  establishment  at  Liebenstein :  Froebel 
has  decisively  made  up  his  mind  to  enter  into  the 
bonds  of  wedlock  with  one  of  his  kindergardners, 
Luise  Levin.  She  had  already  shown  herself  his 
most  responsive  pupil,  and  had  given  him  the 
staunchest  support  in  his  work.  She  had  made 
herself,  as  nearly  as  another  individual  could  be, 


358  THE   LIFE    OF   FEOEBEL. 

the  complete  incarnation  and  reflection  of  Fred- 
erick Froebel.  Through  the  growth  of  years, 
adjusting  herself  to  him  as  her  ideal,  she  had 
become  absolutely  his  female  counterpart,  and 
both  had  recognized  the  fact.  There  was  but 
one  thing  left :  they  must  seal  this  inner  union 
by  the  vow  which  would  incorporate  and  make 
them  one  before  God  and  man. 

Such  a  self -transforming  power  the  unlettered 
village  maiden  had  shown  —  veritably  a  kind  of 
transfiguration  into  the  object  of  her  love. 
Moreover,  she  had  revealed  another  gift,  very 
attractive  to  Froebel  at  his  time  of  life :  she  was 
supremely  the  home-maker.  She  noticed  his 
smallest  wants,  she  observed  just  what  he  liked 
at  table  and  how  he  liked  it,  she  knew  far  better 
than  he  did  wherein  lay  his  comfort ;  a  divine 
atmosphere  of  peace  she  brought  with  her  and 
threw  about  him  as  an  enveloping  yet  invisible 
presence.  No  wonder  the  old  rover  concluded  to 
wind  up  his  peregrinations  and  stay  at  home, 
where  he  could  breathe  an  air  stimulating,  yet  re- 
poseful, and  enjoy  that  wonderful  elixir  produc- 
ing a  restful  intoxication  which  the  home-maker 
alone  knows  how  to  brew. 

The  affair  had  been  growing  a  good  while. 
Already  in  the  Keilhau  household,  where  Luise 
Levin  at  first  belonged  to  the  department  of 
female  help  in  the  kitchen,  and  where  her  rank 
was  not  much  above  that  of  a  servant,  the  affin- 


THE  KINDEEGARDEN  PROPAGATED.       359 

ity  had  been  noticed  by  the  women  of  the  united 
families,  with  the  skill  of  their  sex  for  spying  out 
such  matters.  Of  course  they  were  scandalized, 
outraged,  horrified,  at  the  idea  of  such  an  alli- 
ance. An  old  man,  old  enough  to  be  her  father! 
He  a  distinguished  personage,  and  that,  too,  a 
Froebel;  she  a  common,  ignorant  country  girl! 
Of  course  Luise  Levin  could  not  stay  in  that 
house  any  longer,  subjected,  as  she  must  have 
been,  to  the  never-ceasing  small  torture  of  female 
ingenuity.  And  we  can  understand  thatKeilhau 
could  not  have  been  a  pleasant  place  for  uncle 
Frederick  in  the  spring  of  1849,  when  he -re- 
turned from  Dresden  with  such  a  resolution  in 
his  heart.  Certainly  no  "  unification  of  life  " 
could  be  celebrated  at  Keilhau  on  such  a  stormy 
background. 

The  career  of  Luise  Levin  is  an  impressive 
chapter  in  the  life  of  Froebel.  Born  in  the  town 
of  Osterode,  in  the  Harz  country,  which  was  also 
the  birth-place  of  the  Froebel  girls,  she  was  their 
early  playmate  and  neighbor.  They  moved  to 
Keilhau  in  1820,  when  she  was  five  years  old; 
but  her  connection  with  their  family  was  never 
broken,  especially  with  the  youngest  of  the 
daughters,  Elise  Froebel,  whose  age  was  nearly 
that  of  her  own. 

It  may  be  said  that  she  grew  to  womanhood 
with  the  name  of  Frederick  Froebel  in  her  ears, 
and  the  thought  of  him  in  her  heart.  He  had 


THE  LIFE   OF  FROEBEL. 

first  seen  her  as  a  little  child  18  months  old  when 
he  was  on  a  visit  in  Osterode  at  his  brother's; 
as  an  infant  he  may  have  picked  her  up  in  his 
arms,  clasped  her  to  his  bosom,  and  kissed  her. 
She  had  heard  a  great  deal  about  uncle  Frederick 
from  the  two  sons  of  Christian  Froebel,  as  they 
frequently  made  little  trips  back  to  Osterode  to 
see  their  friends.  They  told  of  the  wonderful 
deeds  done  by  the  boys  at  Keilhau,  of  the  jour- 
neys, of  the  songs,  of  the  work  bodily  and  men- 
tal; they  gave  her  some  toys  made  there,  which 
were  her  delight.  Doing  her  task  in  her  humble 
station,  she  grew  to  be  a  woman;  but  an  ideal 
had  been  generated  in  her  soul  intimately  bound 
up  with  the  personality  of  Froebel ;  and  an  aspira- 
tion had  dawned  in  her  heart  which  was  uncon- 
sciously working  for  fulfillment.  She  communed 
with  him,  havingv  caught  his  spirit  without  seeing 
him ;  she  knew  him  many  years  before  she  ever 
came  into  his  presence. 

Thus  she  served  her  long  apprenticeship  of 
consecration  to  an  ideal,  a  kind  of  nun  with  a 
self-imposed  vow,  performing  the  simple  duties 
of  her  home-life  in  the  town  of  Osterode.  Yet 
her  face  was  always  turned  toward  Keilhau  as 
her  Mecca,  in  some  secret  hope  or  prayer  that 
she  might  yet  reach  the  abode  of  her  prophet. 
Thus  her  young  days  passed,  in  the  silent  disci- 
pline of  the  home  and  of  the  ideal,  testing  her 


THE  KINDERGARDEN  PROPAGATED.   361 

endurance  and  really  moulding  her  character. 
But  will  the  probation  never  end? 

Yes;  in  July,  1845,  the  hour  of  her  release 
strikes,  and  she  sets  out  for  Keilhau,  on  a  visit, 
or  rather  on  a  pilgrimage,  to  what  she  at  least 
deemed  the  sanctuary  of  her  life.  She  was 
thirty  years  old,  the  flower  of  youth  had  quite 
passed ;  it  was  twenty-five  years  since  the  Frqe- 
bel  girls  had  left  Osterode,  still  she  was  going 
to  visit  them,  for  did  not  that  furnish  the  great 
opportunity?  She  sees  Froebel,  obtains  an  in- 
terview —  not  a  difficult  matter ;  she  asks  him 
certain  questions  about  what  she  should  do  in  the 
future,  to  which  the  old  man  responds  with 
friendly,  fatherly  advice,  suitable  to  the  occasion. 

But  her  resolution  was  secretly  fixed  on 
staying  at  Keilhau.  How  could  she  now  leave? 
She  takes  service  in  the  two  families  which  con- 
stituted the  household  of  the  school ;  she  is  will- 
ing to  become  a  menial,  a  very  slave  if  need 
be,  in  the  ministry  of  her  ideal. 

But  now  comes  a  harder,  sorer  trial.  She  soon 
discovers  the  unpleasant  situation  of  Froebel  at 
Keilhau.  She  sees  that  he  is  no  longer  the  head 
of  the  school;  she  observes  the  restraint  put 
upon  him,  and  feels  the  fetters  in  her  own  soul. 
She  notes  the  opposition  of  the  women,  the  Froe- 
bel girls,  to  their  uncle  and  his  plans;  she  over- 
hears their  twittings,  their  sly  disparaging 
remarks,  not  intended  for  the  outside  world, 


LlBRx 
'OF  TBB 


362  THE  LIFE   OF   FROEBEL. 

yet  painfully  significant  of  the  inside  attitude 
of  that  household.  She  states  that  she  saw 
one  day  Froebel,  Middendorf  and  Barop  walk- 
ing up  and  down  the  yard  in  excited  conversation. 
She  stood  and  gazed:  What's  the  matter?  Says 
Frau  Middendorf,  with  a  spice  of  malice: 
"  Uncle  wants  more  money  to  propagate  his  ideas, 
but  Barop  will  not  let  him  have  any." 

Strong  yet  suppressed  sympathy  was  roused 
in  her  heart  by  this  situation  of  Froebel.  So 
complete  was  her  oneness  with  him  that  his  sor- 
rows echoed  through  her  soul  with  an  intense 
longing  to  help.  But  what  could  she  do?  In 
silence  wait  for  the  hour  of  deliverance. 

Thus  her  first,  year  passed,  with  a  still  tongue, 
yet  with  the  heart  aflame.  In  the  following  year 
(1846)  Froebel  was  teaching  a  small  class  of 
young  ladies  the  doctrines  of  the  kindergarden. 
Luise  Levin  succeeded  in  getting  one  of  these 
young  ladies  to  repeat  to  her  at  odd  hours  his 
lectures.  She  hardly  understood  them  in  an 
intellectual  sense,  but  in  another  way  she  absorbed 
them  immediately;  she  accepted  them  as  her 
gospel,  as  a  kind  of  sacred  word  which  can  be 
received  only  by  faith.  Not  through  the  intel- 
lect, but  through  the  heart,  she  took  up  into  her- 
self all  that  Froebel  was,  she  became  the  female 
Froebel. 

She  obtained  a  copy  of  his  Mother  Play-songs, 
which  he  used  as  the  basis  of  his  lectures.  She 


THE  KINDEEGAMDEN  PROPAGATED.       363 

would  turn  over  its  leaves,  look  at  the  pictures, 
listen  to  its  songs  which  seemed  to  sing  in  her 
very  soul.  At  once  she  entered  into  its  idea,  and 
exclaimed :  ' '  How  beautiful !  '  This  was  spoken 
in  the  presence  of  Frau  Middendorf ,  who  injected 
into  that  happy  moment  an  utterance  smacking 
of  the  bitterness  of  the  Keilhau  household :  *  *  No 
doubt,  and  it  has  cost  money  enough ;  more,  in 
fact,  than  will  ever  come  out." 

Thus  we  catch  many  a  little  echo  of  the  domes- 
tic environment  of  Froebel  at  this  time.  But 
such  unfriendly  words  only  confirmed  the  devo- 
tion of  Luise  Levin ;  she  saw  the  lofty  purpose 
of  the  man,  his  heroic  loyalty  to  an  Idea.  It 
was  like  her  own  life,  and  she  resolved  to  be  herself 
the  more  loyal,  in  order  that  she  might  be  worthy 
of  him .  Very  uncongenial  is  that  household  get- 
ting to  be,  with  its  sly  thrusts  and  snarls  at  uncle 
Froebel,  his  impecunious  condition,  his  unremu- 
nerative  work,  his  steadfast  pursuit  of  the  Idea. 

And  now,  on  the  other  hand,  the  fact  must  be 
noted  that  Froebel  in  turn  is  beginning  to  find 
her,  he  has  started  to  casting  deeply  interested 
glances  that  way  —  toward  Luise  Levin,  seem- 
ingly the  only  woman  in  that  household  who  had 
any  genuine  love  for  him  personally,  or  any  real 
appreciation  of  his  work.  On  her  birth-day 
(April  15th,  1847,)  he  gave  her  a  present  and 
with  it  sent  some  verses.  What  does  it  mean? 
A  little  suspicious,  old  fellow!  Making  poetry 


364  THE  LIFE   OF  FROEBEL. 

and  giving  presents  to  that  woman !  Is  it  simply 
gratitude  for  the  strong  sympathy  and  for  the 
hundred  little  favors  which  she  has  shown  thee 
in  spite  of  hostile  surroundings  during  the  last 
two  years? 

Yes,  gratitude  and  something  more,  something 
far  stronger,  more  compelling.  Froebel  in  his 
advanced  years  is  to  experience  Love,  is  to  be 
put  under  its  discipline.  Homeless  he  has  roamed 
through  the  land,  but  now  he  is  to  find  a  home, 
which  he  once  seemed  to  have  quite  renounced  in 
his  absorbing  devotion  to  the  Idea.  Unappeas- 
able, almost  pitiless  he  is  becoming  in  his  pursuit 
of  the  one  great  object;  he  must  be  brought 
back,  he  must  be  made  more  human,  that  abstract 
world  of  his  must  be  filled  with  life's  deepest 
throb.  This  the  providential  Powers  which  stand 
guard  over  his  life  have  decreed  as  necessary, 
deeply  necessary  for  him  and  for  his  cause. 

It  must  be  looked  upon  as  a  most  important 
and  beneficial  event  in  his  career  when  the  old 
Froebel  began  to  grow  warm  and  young  with  the 
love  of  Luise  Levin.  In  thinking  of  a  home  for 
her  and  for  himself,  he  thinks  of  a  home  for  his 
kindergarden,  its  chief  need  just  now;  his  new- 
born Love  will  beget  the  true  spiritual  atmos- 
phere for  his  workers,  very  different  from  that 
of  Keilhau,  which  he  feels  more  and  more 
deeply  to  be  an  impossible  place  for  his  new 
task. 


THE  KINDERGARDEN  PROPAGATED.        365 

So  Froebel,  having  completed  his  system,  has 
now  to  complete  himself.  He  has  wandered  far 
and  wide  scattering  his  seed,  but  now  he  must 
focus  his  soul  afresh  in  the  burning  center  of  a 
divine  passion.  He  has  trained  others  in  the 
past,  but  the  trainer  is  now  himself  to  be  put 
under  training,  the  training  of  Love,  ere  he  can 
impart  to  his  disciples  the  deep  human  affection 
for  the  child  which  lies  at  the  basis  of  their 
vocation. 

Such  were  the  forces  secretly  at  work  during 
that  spring  of  1847.  Luise  Levin  is  determined 
to  be  a  kindergardner,  and  she  resolves  to  take 
the  course  at  first  hand  from  the  master.  She 
joins  the  class  of  1847-8,  which  has  been  already 
noticed  as  forming  an  epoch  in  Froebel' s  work, 
and  now  we  may  see  more  deeply  the  reason. 
She  was  one  of  the  three  famous  pupils  who 
caused  in  Froebel' s  soul  the  dawning  of  the  ideal 
kindergardner,  whom  he  was  thenceforth  to  pre- 
pare with  all  diligence  for  her  new-made  place  in 
the  world's  order.  But  she  could  no  longer  be 
an  inmate  of  the  Keilhau  household,  with  that 
outlook  growing  clearer  every  day.  In  company 
with  Luise  Frankenburg  she  occupied  a  room  in 
a  peasant's  hut,  from  which  she  issued  forth  to 
her  daily  lesson,  beaming  a  peculiar  halo  round 
her  face,  which  made  the  old  teacher's  heart  leap 
with  youthful  delight  the  moment  she  came  into 
his  presence. 


366  THE  LIFE   OF   FEOEBEL. 

Thus  Luise  Levin  goes  to  school  to  Froebel, 
but  in  a  deeper  sense  he  goes  to  school  to  her. 
An  ideal  she  has  too,  has  had  all  her  life,  but  an 
ideal  completely  interpenetrated  and  transfused 
with  Love.  So,  if  he  has  much  to  give  her,  she 
has  even  more  to  give  him,  and  the  grandeur  of 
the  man  is  that  he  knows  it  and  acts  on  it,  in 
spite  of  all  the  world  -and  its  evil  tongues .  Luise 
Levin  has  taken  up  and  become  transfigured  into 
Frederick  Froebel  with  his  ideal,  but  now  Fred- 
erick Froebel  is  to  take  up  and  become  trans- 
figured into  Luise  Levin  with  her  Love.  Such  is 
the  training  for  and  the  prelude  to  the  last  great 
epoch  of  his  life.  (50) 

The  course  finished,  Froebel  longed  to  get 
away  from  Keilhau,  and  she  had  no  Avish  to  stay, 
particularly  without  him.  In  the  summer  of 
1848,  he  concluded  to  make  the  tour  of  the 
neighboring  Thuringian  towns,  scattering  some 
seed  in  that  way.  But  what  was  to  become  of 
her?  Why  should  she  not  go  along?  She  pos- 
sessed a  peculiar  excellence  in  the  games,  and  a 
rare  gift  in  dealing  with  children;  she  could 
illustrate  Froebel' s  lectures  by  living  pictures  of 
the  little  ones  at  play.  Then  there  was  another 
reason  for  their  traveling  together,  which  need 
not  here  be  pressed.  The  season  was  a  success 
in  one  way  at  least,  and  of  course  they  had  a 
good  time.  But  she  could  never  go  back  to 
Keilhau  after  such  a  journey,  which  was  re- 


THE  KINDER  GAR  DEW  PROPAGATED.        367 

garded  by  the  women  there  as  something  a  little 
too  much  in  the  nature  of  an  escapade.  And 
Froebel  himself  must  have  felt  less  inclination 
than  ever  to  face  the  music  of  the  tongues  of 
that  household. 

The  summer  ended,  there  had  to  be  a  tempo- 
rary separation.  He  obtained  for  her  a  good 
position  at  Rendsburg,  near  Hamburg,  where  he 
saw  her  again  about  Christmas.  He  completed 
his  peregrinations  for  the  winter  with  a  longing 
heart.  When  the  Spring  began  to  breathe 
warmly  on  the  Thuringian  hills,  and  the  flowers 
began  to  bloom  and  the  birds  began  to  sing,  he 
had  chosen  a  nest  for  his  mate,  a  home  for  his 
training-school  and  for  his  heart.  We  find  him 
settled  at  Liebenstein,  the  Eock  of  Love,  already 
in  April,  1849. 

The  class  begins  and  is  at  work,  but  Luise 
Levin  is  not  there,  she  is  still  detained  in  her 
position  at  Rendsburg.  Froebel  has  a  grand- 
niece  with  him  (Henriette  Breymann,  afterwards 
the  distinguished  Frau  Schrader  of  Berlin),  who 
is  a  good  pupil  and  an  excellent  house-keeper 
and  all  that;  but  all  that  is  not  enough.  So  he 
writes  urgent  letters  to  Luise  to  give  up  her 
place  and  to  hasten  to  Liebenstein,  which  with- 
out her  is  no  Rock  of  Love.  Accordingly  in 
July,  1849,  she  appears  and  takes  possession, 
Froebel  hailing  her  arrival  with  a  joy  in 
his  countenance  which  gleams  like  a  mir- 


368  THE  LIFE   OF    FROEBEL. 

ror,  reflecting   the   most    cherished    purpose    of 
his   heart. 

And  now  we  must  correct  a  possible  misappre- 
hension. The  reader  is  not  to  think  that  Froe- 
bel's  place  stands  upon  some  high  eminence 
called  Liebenstein,  overlooking  the  world  below 
in  lofty  serenity,  like  a  medieval  castle,  whose 
lord  he  is  with  his  lady  Luise.  On  the  contrary 
his  training-school  is  situated  in  an  ordinary 
farm-house  not  far  from  Bath  Liebenstein,  the 
watering-place  which  gives  name  to  this  region. 
A  very  ordinary  farm-house  it  is,  surrounded  by 
stables,  cowpens,  and  pigsties  in  close  quarters, 
quite  like  the  home  of  the  German  farmer  every- 
where. This  place  Froebel  has  rented  for  the 
summer,  and  the  persistent  band  of  young  ladies 
has  followed  through  all  obstacles,  not  the  least 
of  which  is  the  never-failing  odor  which  rises 
from  the  premises,  and  penetrates  the  happy 
class-room.  Teacher  and  pupils  get  used  to  it, 
but  the  untrained  visitor  who  comes  to  see  the 
work  cannot  help  noticing  this  quality  of  the 
atmosphere  of  the  school,  and  reporting  it.  Espe- 
cially the  fine  Jady,  even  the  Duchess,  majecti- 
cally  descending  from  the  elegant  rooms  of  the 
hotel  at  Bath  Liebenstein,  into  that  cow  yard,  is 
compelled  to  an  unremitting  use  of  fan  and  hand- 
kerchief, as  she  listens  to  the  prophet  expounding 
the  Idea  utterly  oblivious  of  all  finite  things. 
Whereof  some  good  stories  are  told. 


THE  K1NDEEGAEDEN  PROPAGATED.        369 

But  this  is  a  small  matter  amid  things  eternal. 
The  love  for  Luise  Levin  showed  in  many  ways 
its  transforming  power  over  Froebel's  life.  A 
true  renewal  came  into  his  days,  a  veritable  reju- 
venescence ;  a  deeper  meaning  the  home  had  for 
him,  with  a  fresh,  more  vital  penetration  into  the 
nature  of  the  family ;  more  completely  and  more 
concretely  the  function  of  woman  in  the  education 
of  the  race  rose  up  to  his  vision.  So  much  and 
more  the  conduct  of  the  simple  unlettered  village- 
maiden  of  Osterode  taught  him  by  her  love, 
into  whose  creative  fountains  the  genius  of  his 
destiny,  working  with  him  for  his  and  the  world's 
blessing,  has  had  to  dip  him  even  in  his  old  age. 

So  Froebel  has  quit  Keilhau  forever,  having 
made  it  one  of  the  famous  schools  of  the  world. 
And  Luise  Levin  has  gone,  too,  unable  there  to 
fulfill  that  which  -  she  now  knows  to  be  her  first 
duty,  the  duty  to  Love.  Only  one  person  in  the 
Keilhau  household  appreciated  her  devotion  to 
Froebel,  and  that  was  a  man,  Wilhelm  Midden- 
dorf ,  who  had  something  of  the  same  spirit  of 
consecration  to  his  friend.  For  he  loved  Froebel 
in  his  way  as  deeply  as  she  loved  Froebel  in  her 
way.  To  Middendorf  Froebel  was  the  incarna- 
tion of  the  Godlike,  as  much  as  mortal  can  be ; 
the  two  souls  during  a  life-time  of  fellowship 
had  become  not  merely  intertwined,  but  abso- 
lutely intergrown  and  inseparable,  the  Siamese 
twins  of  the  spirit.  So  Middendorf  could  under- 

24 


370  THE  LIFE   OF   FROEBEL. 

stand  and  deeply  sympathize  with  that  lonely 
woman  in  her  consecration,  which  so  strongly 
told  back  to  him  his  own. 

III. 

Liebenstein  —  The  Baroness. 

And  now  a  new  woman,  belonging  to  a  very 
different  class  of  -society,  of  quite  another  order 
of  mind  and  of  attainments,  yet  with  a  devotion 
equally  great  in  her  way,  makes  her  appearance 
one  day  at  Froebel's  Liebenstein,  and,  after 
briefly  witnessing  the  work  and  the  spirit  there, 
hears  within  herself  the  compelling  inner  call  of 
her  life,  takes  the  sacred  vow  to  her  own  soul, 
and  at  once  begins  her  novitiate  at  the  Rock 
of  Love. 

Froebel  had  already  arrived  at  Liebenstein  and 
was  busily  engaged  in  his  task,  gathering  the 
peasant  children  together  and  playing  with  them 
his  games,  in  which  employment  he  was  assisted 
by  the  young  ladies  whom  he  was  training  to  be 
kindergardners.  Up  the  hills  and  through  the 
woods  the  happy  band  danced  and  sprang,  in 
which  sport  the  gray-haired  leader  never  failed 
to  do  his  part,  a  child  still  among  children.  It 
was  indeed  a  strange  sight;  no  wonder  every 
person  passing  along  would  stop  and  gaze  and 
ruminate.  Already  the  unusual  proceedings  of 
that  man  had  been  noised  about  the  neighbor- 


TEE  KINDERGABDEN  PBOPAGATED.       371 

hood;  here  is  one  report  which  has  become 
famous :  — 

"  At  the  end  of  May,  1849,  I  arrived  at  Bath 
Liebenstein  in  Thuringia  and  took  quarters  in 
the  house  where  I  had  stayed  the  previous  year. 
On  greeting  my  landlady,  she  told  me  the  fol- 
lowing piece  of  news :  a  man  had  taken  up  his 
abode  some  weeks  before  at  a  neighboring  farm- 
house, whose  custom  was  to  dance  and  play  with 
the  village  children,  for  which  reason  people 
called  him  the  old  fool." 

Such  is  the  striking  passage  with  which  the 
Baroness  Von  Marenholtz-Bulow  begins  her  book 
called  the  « «  Reminiscences  of  Frederick  Froe- 
bel,"  truly  an  overture  or  suggestive  prelude 
which  gives  the  dominant  tone  to  her  writing. 
Evidently  there  are  two  Liebensteins ;  one  is  full 
of  distinguished  guests,  people  of  fame,  and  au- 
thority, and  high  birth,  and  worldly  fashion :  this 
we  may  call  Bath  Liebenstein,  the  watering  place. 
The  other  is  Froebel's  Liebenstein,  located  in 
that  humble  farm-house,  not  fashionable,  with- 
out influence,  without  fame,  ridiculed,  despised; 
sui rounded  with  stables,  reeking  with  the  odor  of 
horses  and  cattle,  and  in  close  proximity  to  them, 
it  vividly  calls  to  mind  that  other  stable  in 
whose  manger  the  Light  of  the  World  was 
born,  Earth-encompassing  and  Time-illuminating. 

Thus  the  Baroness  has  caught  and  repeated 
the  echo  which  Froebel's  Liebenstein  is  produc- 


372  THE  LIFE   OF    FEOEBEL. 

ing  through  the  corridors  and  boudoirs  of  Bath 
Liebenstein.  She  goes  on  to  tell  how  she  met  a 
few  days  afterward  a  tall  spare  man,  whose  name 
even  she  did  not  know,  advanced  in  years,  as  his 
long  gray  hair  plainly  told,  but  playing  vigor- 
ously with  a  group  of  peasant  children,  most  of 
whom  were  bare-footed  and  poorly  clad.  The 
loving  devotion  and  patience  with  which  he  man- 
aged his  little  ones,  as  .  well  as  the  whole 
spirit  and  bearing  of  the  man  brought  tears 
into  the  eyes  of  her  attendant,  and  also' of  the 
Baroness  herself,  whereat  she  speaks  the  pro- 
phetic words,  and  for  her  own  future  career  deeply 
significant:  "  They  may  call  him  the  old  fool, 
but  he  is  probably  one  of  those  men  who  are  by 
contemporaries  ridiculed  or  stoned,  but  to  whom 
posterity  rears  monuments." 

Plainly  can  we  see  by  these  words  that  in  the 
soul  of  the  Baroness  Froebel's  Liebenstein  is 
becoming  connected  with  Bethlehem.  Uncon- 
sciously she  has  spoken  not  merely  the  utter- 
ance of  deep  sympathy,  but  of  still  deeper 
consecration;  a  mighty  response  within  is  taking 
place  on  the  spot.  Of  course  she  must  talk  to 
such  a  man,  it  is  the  opportunity  of  a  life-time. 
She  addresses  him  in  a  friendly  manner ;  they 
converse  together,  the  result  is  an  invitation  to 
his  farm-house,  which  lies  just  across  the  meadow 
yonder,  where  he  will  show  her  his  play-gifts 
for  children,  and  explain  their  meaning. 


THE  KINDERGAEDEN  PROPAGATED.       373 

The  Baroness  reports  his  declaration  that 
"  the  destiny  of  nations  lies  far  more  in  the 
hands  of  women  —  the  mothers  —  than  in  the 
hands  of  rulers."  But  in  the  education  of  the 
child  we  must  go  beyond  the  physical  mother ; 
we  have  at  present  to  think  of  preparing  the 
second  or  spiritual  mother  for  her  task  —  the 
kindergardner  who  is  to  co-operate  with  the  for- 
mer, and  whose  training  is  henceforth  the  su- 
preme object.  Says  he :  "  We  must  now  educate 
the  educatress  herself,  without  whom  the  new 
generation  cannot  fulfill  its  function."  This 
was  the  burden  of  all  his  thoughts,  the  outcome  of 
all  his  remarks ;  this  was  the  far-reaching  con- 
ception to  whose  realization  he  was  devoting  his 
days ;  in  proof  of  which  behold  here  in  this 
farm-house  fourteen  young  ladies  whom  he  has 
inspired  with  his  idea,  and  whom  he  is  train- 
ing to  the  new  vocation  of  their  sex,  life-renew- 
ing, race-transforming. 

f^  As  the  man  spoke,  his  peculiarities  came  to 
light.  He  was  often  difficult  to  understand. 
He  clothed  his  thoughts  in  a  strange  nomencla- 
ture ;  his  sentences  would  become  involved  at 
times  in  a  hopeless  grammatical  tangle,  he  would 
often  repeat  himself,  and  often  before  completing 
his  proposition  he  would  dash  off  in  a  wholly 
new  direction.  Still  he  revealed  his  wealth  of 
originality;  full  of  far-flashing  gleams,  of  deep 
intuitions  was  the  man,  and  of  irresistible  earn- 


374  THE  LIFE   OF   FEOEBEL. . 

estness.  I  "  I  knew  that  I  had  before  me  a  true 
man,  with  an  uncorrupted,  original  nature." 
Certainly  here  is  strong,  deep  attraction,  and 
that  too  at  first  sight ;  she  has  gotten  a  glimpse 
of  the  real  Liebenstein,  the  Rock  of  Love.  But 
the  name  of  this  man  she  does  not  yet  know ;  at 
last  she  picks  it  up  from  the  mouth  of  a  pupil 
whom  she  hears  calling  him  Herr  Froebel. 

Such  was  the  first  acquaintance  of  the  Baro- 
ness with  Froebel  —  she  of  aristocratic  birth,  hav- 
ing a  long  ancestral  pedigree,  of  great  personal 
dignity,  and  endowed,  it  must  be  confessed,  with 
no  small  share  of  high-bred  haughtiness  in  her 
disposition.  No  longer  young  —  she  is  forty-two 
years  old  at  this  time  —  she  looks  on  these  un- 
pretentious kindergardners  taking  lessons  there 
in  the  farmhouse,  and  a  great,  sudden  upheaval 
from  the  very  foundation  of  her  being  takes 
place,  followed  by  quick  resolution.  On  the  first 
day  of  her  acquaintance,  before  she  leaves  the 
house,  she  announces  to  Froebel:  '*  I  wish  to 
become  one  of  your  pupils . ' ' 

And  now  daily  the  high-born  dame  can  be  seen 
passing  from  Bath  Liebenstein  to  Froebel' s  Lie- 
benstein, where  she  takes  her  place  among  Froe- 
bel's  home-spun  girls,  listening  to  the  words  of 
the  master,  and  specially  absorbing  his  philo- 
sophic doctrine.  Then  again  behold  the  lofty 
lady  coming  down  from  her  courtly  dignity  and 
playing  with  Froebel' s  little  barefooted  raga- 


THE  K1NDEEGARDEN  PROPAGATED.        375 

muffins,  singing  and  dancing  with  them  through 
the  woods  and  the  fields.  Certainly  a  marvelous 
act  of  self-humiliation  on  the  part  of  that  blue- 
blooded  German  aristocrat,  a  class  not  specially 
distinguished  for  its  humility  —  what  does  it  all 
mean? 

Thus  she  is  getting  her  reward,  the  supreme 
earthly  reward  — the  inner  liberation  of  her  fet- 
tered spirit.  She  has  heard  what  is  for  her  the 
word  of  life ;  she  has  seen  the  deed  which  she  is 
to  do  for  the  enfranchisement  of  her  enthralled 
soul.  She  is  learning  from  Froebel  to  compel 
Fate,  hitherto  the  tyrant  of  her  life.  She^has 
has  had  her  domestic  sorrows,  yea,  if  report  be 
true,  domestic  horrors,  which  she  has  bravely 
withstood,  yet  with  deep  sadness  and  disappoint- 
ment. A  strong  consciousness,  too,  she  has  of 
a  talent  never  realized,  of  a  vocation  never  ful- 
filled. There  is  no  doubt  that  she  came  to  Bath 
Liebenstein  broken  in  body  and  spirit,  with  the 
better  half  of  her  life  hopelessly  lost,  according 
to  all  appearances.  But  in  a  celestial  hour  she 
takes  that  walk  which  'leads  her  to  the  other  Lie- 
benstein, of  whose  waters  she  drinks;  great, 
almost  instantaneous,  is  the  change,  a  sudden 
whirl  and  movement  not  merely  toward  physical 
health,  but  toward  an  inner  recovery  and  regen- 
ation.  For  she  has  rounded  the  corner  and  has 
already  started  on  the  road  toward  a  new  exist- 


376  THE  LIFE   OF    FROEBEL. 

ence  when  she  can  utter  those  words :  *  *  I  wish 
to  become  one  of  your  pupils." 

And  now  we  may  imagine  the  lofty  dame  tak- 
ing her  place  at  the  low,  long  table  in  the  large 
room  of  that  farm-house,  seated  on  a  small 
Wooden  chair,  along  with  the  rest  of  the  girls, 
enduring  every  inconvenience  and  discomfort  — 
she,  the  Baroness,  reared  in  luxury,  accustomed 
to  lounge  on  silk-cushioned  divans,  and  used  to 
the  fragrance  of  the  boudoir,  quite  different  from 
that  of  her  present  surroundings. 

Such  is  the  discipline  of  life  which  the  Baro- 
ness brings  to  her  work  with  Froebel.  But  she 
has  great  attainments  in  other  directions,  greater 
than  Froebel  himself.  First  of  all,  she  is  the 
woman  philosopher ;  she  shows  thorough  training 
in  philosophy,  and  a  decided  aptitude  for  it,  with 
a  marked  power  of  philosophic  expression.  Her 
education,  chiefly  the  work  of  private  tutors  from 
the  University,  lay,  not  so  much  in  the  creative, 
as  in  the  authoritative  epoch  of  modern  German 
philosophy,  specially  of  Hegel.  Froebel's  stay 
at  Jena,  as  has  been  pointed  out,  was  in  the  midst 
of  its  creative  epoch.  The  Baroness,  therefore, 
has  profound  philosophic  culture,  of  a  Hegelian 
cast,  as  we  think,  and  strongly  characteristic  of 
her  time  and  people.  It  is  on  this  side,  more 
than  on  any  other,  that  she  will  hereafter  ex- 
pound the  doctrines  of  Froebel. 

Then  her  early  education  as  a  lady  of  the  court 


THE  KINDERGARDEN  PROPAGATED.        377 

has  given  her  the  mastery  over  the  chief  Euro- 
pean languages,  for  which  likewise  she  shows 
decided  talent.  This  attainment  will  select  her 
as  the  apostle  of  Froebel  in  foreign  lands ;  she 
will  go  as  a  missionary  to  most  of  the  countries 
of  Europe -^-France,  England,  Belgium,  Italy  — 
on  a  grand  tour  of  propagandist^  speaking  and 
writing  in  the  tongues  of  all  these  peoples,  for 
the  cause  of  her  master. 

Moreover  she  has  a  natural  bent  for  pedagogy, 
a  born  love  of  teaching.  No  little  experience  too 
in  pedagogical  matters ;  she  has  superintended 
the  education  of  her  step-children  with  great  dili- 
gence and  interest,  seeking  to  learn  educational 
methods  through  books  and  conversation  with 
distinguished  educators.  Education  was  her  de- 
light, perchance  her  hobby. 

Nor  must  we  forget  to  mention  the  fact  that 
she  was  also  a  woman  of  society,  acquainted  with 
nearly  every  person  of  importance  in  the  various 
German  governments,  knowing  all  the  subtle 
ways  of  securing  court  influence  for  her  projects, 
diplomatic,  insinuating,  and  prodigiously  persist- 
ent. Herein  she  will  perform  services  altogether 
out  of  the  reach  of  any  other  person  connected 
with  Froebel' s  work. 

Such  was  the  new  disciple,  greatest  of  them 
all,  which  a  chance  hour,  yet  filled  with  a  provi- 
dential purpose,  has  led  to  Froebel.  A  great 
boon  to  him,  but  a  greater  to  her;  she  recognizes 


378  THE  LIFE   OF   FRO E BEL. 

the  fact  with  its  duty,  and  at  once  starts  on  her 
task.  She  is  to  turn  Bath  Liebenstein  down  to 
Froebel's  Liebenstein,  that  it  quaff  of  the  fountain 
of  healing  tfcere ;  she  seeks  to  make  every  guest 
do  what  she  has  done,  in  order  that  all  may  get 
what  she  has  gotten. 

The  first  class  whom  she  will  seek  to  interest 
in  Froebel's  work  will  be  the  ruling  powers  of 
the  country,  the  high  dignitaries,  Duke,  Duchess, 
Princesses.  She  will  even  succeed  in  getting 
Froebel  invited  to  dine  with  their  Highnesses  and 
to  expound  his  doctrine  to  them. 

Then  follows  a  line  of  lesser  lights  which  she 
conducts  continually  to  Froebel;  Prime  Minis- 
ters, Councillors  of  State,  Professors  from  the 
University,  famous  educators,  high  officials  of 
all  sorts,  together  with  distinguished  and  influen- 
tial untitled  people  she  whirls  in  an  incessant 
daily  stream  to  Froebel's  school.  Of  course 
many  find  something  to  criticise,  not  a  few  be- 
come afflicted  with  secret  laughter,  hardly  any- 
body will  understand.  But  she  will  explain  him, 
defend  him,  excuse  him,  yet  in  a  very  gentle  way 
acknowledge  his  faults.  She  will  proclaim  him 
as  the  bearer  of  a  great  new  Idea,  which  he  must 
realize  or  be  faithless  to  his  destiny.  She  will 
have  to  apologize  for  his  surroundings,  in  partic- 
ular for  his  coat,  which  is  of  the  old  German 
pattern,  resembling  that  of  the  village  school- 
master now  seen  in  the  most  retired  nooks  of 


THE  KINDEBGAKDEN  PROPAGATED.       379 

Germany.  She  will  feel  outraged  when  the  well- 
dressed  summer  butterfly  of  Bath  Liebenstein 
makes  fun  of  him,  and  if  need  be,  she  will  settle 
the  matter  by  a  keen  thrust  of  her  woman's  rapier, 
the  tongue. 

Thus  she  continues  her  propagandism,  tactful, 
unwearied,  amiably  persistent,  yet  combative 
when  necessary;  she  chooses  her  people,  those 
who  ought  to  go,  extorting  a  promise  often  un- 
willing, but  the  easiest  way  out;  a  few  who  flatly 
refuse  she  leads  to  the  farm-house  by  stratagem. 
In  the  most  charming  way  she  gives  them  no 
peace  till  they  get  rid  of  her  in  the  only  possible 
manner,  by  an  excursion  to  Froebel.  She  would 
join  parties  taking  walks  through  the  mountains, 
and  by  a  dexterous  detour  would  bring  them 
down  into  Froebel' s  barnyard.  She  had  to 
stand  no  little  teasing  and  some  rebuffs;  no 
matter,  she  goes  on  with  her  undismayed  prose- 
lytizing. 

So  she  captures,  for  instance,  Dr.  Gustav 
Kiihne,  a  great  man  in  literature,  editor  of  one 
of  the  leading  literary  periodicals  of  Germany, 
who  could  scatter  the  doctrine  far  and  wide,  and 
hence  a  man  whom  she  must  win  at  all  hazards. 
On  her  first  solicitation  he  said  he  had  come  to 
this  watering  place,  not  to  study  educational 
methods  but  to  rest  and  enjoy  himself.  Still 
she  devises  a  way  to  lead  him  to  Froebel,  so  that 
in  the  end  he  notices  the  kindergarden  in  his 


380  THE  LIFE    OF   FEOEBEL. 

widely-read  periodical,  and,. as  it  would  seem, 
influences  one  of  his  nieces  to  take  the  training. 

So  for  three  seasons  the  Baroness  continues, 
seeking  to  make  converts  to  the  new  Idea,  among 
the  summer  visitors,  turning  the  stream  from 
Bath  Liebenstein  down  to  Froebel's  Liebenstein. 
Very  important  were  these  men  in  their  day,  the 
great  ones  of  the  world;  excellent  people,  no 
doubt,  the  most  of  them  —  but  where  are  they 
now?  Almost  wholly  vanished,  the  entire  set  of 
them — these  Prime  Ministers,  Privy  Council- 
lors, Dukes,  Duchesses,  Professors  and  Authors. 
But  the  man  whom  they  looked  down  upon, 
obscure,  located  in  a  farm-house,  has  become  a 
light  illumining  the  world,  growing  brighter  year 
by  year.  The  ephemeral  and  the  eternal  —  such 
seems  to  be  the  difference  between  Bath  Lieben- 
stein and  Froebel's  Liebenstein. 

Another  favorable  occurrence  in  these  days 
must  be  recorded.  It  so  befell  that  not  many 
weeks  after  the  Baroness  had  met  Froebel,  the 
greatest  educator  of  Germany,  Adolph  Diesterweg 
came  to  Bath  Liebenstein.  Editor  of  a  most  in- 
fluential teachers'  periodical,  writer  of  famous 
educational  books,  for  many  years  head  of  the 
chief  Prussian  Normal  School,  he  undoubtedly 
stood  next  to  Pestalozzi  in  the  German  pedago- 
gical world,  with  whose  name  his  was  often 
coupled  in  honor.  The  Baroness,  seeing  him, 
thought  to  herself:  That  is  just  the  man  I 


THE  KINDEltGARDEN  PROPAGATED.       881 

must  get  for  my  Frocbel.  Off  she  starts  and 
salutes  Diesterweg,  whom  she  knew  previously  — 
she  seems  to  know  everybody  —  and  tells  him 
by  way  of  introducing  her  subject,  the  story  of 
the  old  fool,  at  which  he  had  a  hearty  laugh. 
Then  she  comes  at  once  to  the  main  point :  Early 
to-morrow  morning  you  must  go  with  me  to 
Froebel's  class. 

Diesterweg  tries  to  excuse  himself.  He  has 
heard  vaguely  of  this  new  doctrine,  he  does  not 
like  play  in  school.  But  the  disciple  is  ready 
for  him,  she  answers  all  his  objections  with 
knowledge,  for  she  has  now  been  a  student  some 
weeks,  and  he  does  not  know  the  subject.  No 
possible  chance  against  her ;  so  Diesterweg  sub- 
mits with  resignation,  saying,  "  Very  well,  to- 
morrow I  shall  go  with  you  wherever  you  may 
lead." 

The  time  comes,  though  the  new  school-boy  is 
somewhat  late.  They  arrive  at  the  place,  the 
class  has  already  begun,  the  two  slip  in  and 
listen  to  Froebel's  exposition,  as  he  stands  in  the 
midst  of  his  pupils.  At  first  the  face  of  Diester- 
weg showed  streaks  of  irony,  which,  however, 
gradually  vanished  into  deep  attention  and  admir- 
ation. After  the  close  of  the  lecture,  the  Baro- 
ness introduced  the  two  men  to  each  other,  who 
spoke  together  with  strong,  mutual  admiration 
and  sympathy.  So  absorbed  was  Diesterweg  that 
she  had  to  remind  him  that  the  dinner  hour  was 


382  THE  LIFE    OF    FEOEBEL. 

at  hand,  and  they  must  think  of  returning  to 
their  hotel.  On  the  way  back  Diesterweg  would 
walk  a  little  and  then  stop  a  little  (he  was  a  thick, 
heavy-set  man),  always  talking  of  the  wonderful 
teacher  and  his  profound  insight  into  the  nature 
of  children.  And  she  reports  that  tears  came 
into  the  eyes  of  the  strict  methodical  pedagogue 
at  the  things  he  saw  and  heard  —  an  unusual  dis- 
play of  emotion  on  his  part.  Diesterweg  himself 
was  at  that  time  an  object  of  persecution  and 
disparagement;  how  could  he  help  seeing  some- 
thing of  his  own  life  in  the  man  before  him? 

Thus  a  good  beginning  has  been  made,  but  a 
new  duty  has  dawned  upon  the  first  schoolmaster 
of  all  Germany,  that  land  of  schoolmasters,  and 
this  it  is :  he  must  again  go  to  school.  He  se- 
cures a  copy  of  the  text-book-,  ' i  The  Mother 
Play-songs,"  and  begins  his  study.  No  more 
tardiness;  he  is  now  the  good  school-boy.  Every 
morning  almost  he  would  appear  promptly  under 
the  window  of  the  Baroness'  room  and  cry  out : 
"  Frau  von  Marenholtz,  it  is  time  to  go  to 
school."  So  Diesterweg  also,  the  greatest  edu- 
cator of  his  time,  has  come  down  from  Bath  Lie- 
benstein  and  joined  the  unpretending  band  of 
kindergardners ;  moreover,  he,  too,  the  stout, 
short-breathed  man  skips  and  hops  through  the 
fields  and  woods  with  Froebel's  little  bare-footed 
ragamuffins  —  thirty  to  forty  of  them. 

So  the  mornings  parsed,  but  in  the  afternoons 


THE  KINDERGAEDEN  PROPAGATED.       383 

the  two  men  would  take  long  walks  together  con- 
versing on  educational  topics  and  on  the  times, 
with  which  both  of  them  were  sympathetically 
somewhat  at  odds.  Also  plans  were  laid  for  pro- 
pagating the  Idea.  But  behold  them  walking 
alongside  of  each  other,  the  two  illustrious 
schoolmasters:  Diesterweg,  thick  rather  than 
tall,  corpulent,  round-faced,  round-nosed,  with 
a  jovial  look,  having  a  tendency  to  universal 
rotundity,  spherical  in  feature,  cylindrical  in 
trunk  and  in  the  totality  of  him ;  Froebel  on  the 
contrary,  long,  thin,  wiry,  bony,  straight-lined, 
sharp-nosed,  with  a  tendency  in  every  part  of  his 
body  to  shoot  into  the  rectilineal  like  a  crystal, 
everything  about  him  seeming  to  run  into  long 
right  lines  — long  coat  swashing  about  his  long 
legs,  long  hair  down  his  long  neck,  long  nose, 
and  it  must  be  confessed,  excessively  long,  large 
ears.  No  wonder  that  Froebel  in  his  Gifts  has  put 
such  stress  upon  the  rectilineal,  he  has  simply 
produced  himself  in  them.  If  Diesterweg  had 
made  a  set  of  Gifts,  they  would  certainly  have 
been  curvilineal.  Still  these  two  war-horses  of 
education,  the  short  and  the  tall,  the  long  and 
the  round,  the  short-stepping  and  the  far-strid- 
ing, are  now  harnessed  together  into  a  team, 
quite  inseparable,  deeply  affectionate  and  re- 
sponsive, and  so  they  go,  down  the  road  and 
over  the  hills,  through  the  halls  and  grounds  of 
Bath  Liebenstein,  ever  together,  talking,  talking, 


384  THE  LIFE   OF  F ROE  BEL. 

whereat  one  of  the  sharp-tongued  glittering  dra- 
gon-flies of  the  Bath  gives  them  a  jingling  nick- 
name from  German  storyland,  calling  them 
"  Eisele  and  Beisele,"  which  jingle  will  produce 
an  echo  in  every  empty  head  of  the  place, 
followed  by  titter  and  tattle. 

Thus  Diesterweg  is  completely  won,  he  becomes 
a  zealous  co-worker  in  the  cause  of  Froebel  and 
remains  so  ever  afterwards.  He  was  a  man  who 
had  suffered  for  his  ideas,  for  his  advanced  views ; 
he  was  just  then  suffering  for  them ;  he  was  too 
liberal  for  the  Prussian  Government,  now  in  a 
strong  tide  of  reaction ;  in  this  very  year  of 
1849  he  was  displaced  from  the  headship  of  the 
Normal  School  after  many  years  of  devotion  and 
successful  service.  Mellowed  by  his  experience 
he  came  to  Bath  Liebenstein  for  a  little  recuper- 
ation ;  he  met  this  old  man  who  was  also  giving 
his  life  to  an  educational  ideal,  and  seeking  to 
realize  it  in  a  humble  farm-house,  under  the  most 
adverse  circumstances,  to  which  those  of  Diester- 
weg bore  no  comparison.  It  is  the  greatness  of 
Adolph  Diesterweg  that  he,  the  first  educator  of 
Germany,  could  on  the  spot  resolve  to  go  to 
school  to  Froebel,  who  was  able  to  give  him  in- 
struction, not  merely  by  his  talk,  but  by  his 
shining  example ;  instruction  not  merely  in  the 
kindergarden  doctrine,  but  in  a  thing  much 
deeper,  in  the  mastery  of  the  fate  of  human 


THE  KINDEHGAEDEN  PROPAGATED.       385 

existence,  in  that  freedom  of  the  spirit  which  is 
the  end  and  fulfillment  of  all  education. 

It  was  on  one  of  these  fair  days,  while  con- 
versing with  the  Baroness  and  Diesterweg,  that 
Froebel  seemed  unusually  happy.  He  could  not 
keep  the  good  news :  he  announced  that  Luise 
Levin  would  arrive,  having  thrown  up  her  com- 
fortable position,  and  would  join  the  circle  at  the 
farm-house,  converting  it  into  a  true  home,  for 
just  that  was  her  surpassing  gift.  But  who  is 
this  wonderful  Luise?  Froebel  could  not  hold 
back  the  deeper  secret,  so  he  says:  "  She  is  my 
betrothed."  Indeed !  It  must  have  caused  some 
surprise,  that  announcement,  to  the  two  friends, 
when  they  found  that  the  Love-god  was  weaving 
his  little  thread,  in  fact,  the  chief  thread  of  all, 
into  this  Idea  of  Froebel.  The  Baroness  claims 
that  she  was  delighted  by  the  news,  and 
that  she  and  Diesterweg  approved  of  the. 
match,  which  she  defends  with  some  arguments 
which  seem  of  the  head  more  than  of  the 
heart. 

Diesterweg  remained  firm  and  faithful  to  the 
cause  of  Froebel,  though  he  could  not  give  his 
life  to  it  without  reserve.  "  Too  old  and  too 
much  to  do,"  was  his  reply  to  the  Baroness 
when  she  urged  him  to  offer  himself  a  living 

n  o 

sacrifice  to  the  holy  work,  as  she  had  resolved 
to  do.  But  he  promised  to  write  and  to  speak 
in  its  favor  whenever  opportunity  would  present 

25 


386  THE  LIFE   OF   FROEBEL. 

itself,  and  most  loyally  he  fulfilled  his  promise. 
Still  the  strongest  and  most  affecting  testimony 
to  his  faith  he  gave  the  following  year.  Among 
the  band  of  young  ladies  who  then  assembled  at 
Marienthal  for  Froebel's  instruction,  appeared 
the  daughter  of  Adolph  Diesterweg,  sent  by  her 
father  from  her  home  to  become  one  of  Froebel's 
kindergardners . 

A  great  summer  this  has  been  for  Froebel, 
and  likewise  for  the  Baroness,  who  came  to  Lie- 
benstein  a  woman  of  sorrow,  disappointed  in  life, 
dissatisfied  with  the  court  and  its  false  shows, 
possessing  a  talent  unfulfilled,  imprisoned  like 
Ariel,  yet  beating  its  wings  mightily  against  its 
prison  walls.  She  has  found  the  man,  the  grand 
liberator  of  the  woman,  who  has  let  out  her  in- 
carcerated spirit,  and  given  her  a  vocation  in 
which  she  can  realize  herself  to  the  full  and 
attain  an  inner  peace,  though  coupled  with  great 
outer  activity,  by  becoming  the  woman  apostle 
of  the  New  Education.  (51) 

Many  hearts  she  has  turned  from  Bath  Lieben- 
stein,  the  gay,  the  worldly,  the  ephemeral,  to 
Froebel's  Liebenstein,  the  humble,  the  ridiculed, 
the  crucified,  yet  the  eternal.  But  she  does  not 
stop  with  this  form  of  propaganda,  she  seizes  the 
pen,  she  writes  articles  in  the  newspapers,  which 
Froebel  commends ;  she  interprets  him,  and  he 
recognizes  that  she  often  expresses  his  thought 
better  than  he  can.  In  the  presence  of  visitors 


THE  KINDERGARDEN  PROPAGATED.        387 

he  will  at  times  turn  to  her  and  say :    ' '  Tell  it  to 
them,  they  understand  you  better." 

Meanwhile  she  becomes  more  and  more  indoc- 
trinated, yea,  transfigured,  into  Froebel's  Idea, 
particularly  in  its  philosophical  aspect.  Summer 
after  summer  she  comes  to  him  for  study  and 
conversation,  till  she  is  saturated  and  transformed 
with  it,  an  incarnation  of  his  brain,  and  in  many 
respects  a  clarification  of  it,  for  the  stream  of  his 
thinking  often  ran  turbid. 

Two  women  Froebel  has  now  won,  who  take 
their  places  in  the  innermost  circle  of  his  disciples. 
One  is  the  simple  village  maiden  of  humble  birth, 
of  poor  education,  but  with  her  heart  she  has  so 
deeply  absorbed  the  master  that  she  has  become 
his  other  self  in  a  way  that  means  indissoluble 
union.  The  second  woman  is  the  high-born  aris- 
tocrat, of  courtly  manners  and  of  profound  learn- 
ing; she,  through  her  intellect,  mainly,  yet  not 
without  strong  feeling,  has  become  so  permeated 
with  Froebel's  thought  that  she  will  rise  to  being 
it?  most  loyal  as  well  as  profoundest  disciple,  his 
self-chosen  missionary  to  foreign  lands.  Such 
are  the  women,  coming  from  quite  opposite  social 
directions,  with  quite  opposite  gifts  of  culture 
and  nature,  who  have  taken  up  Froebel  and  given 
him  an  intimate  share  in  their  very  personality. 
Yet  both  reveal  the  eternal-woman  (ewig- 
weibtiche),  who  has  been  called  forth  into 
living;  energy  by  that  man,  the  apostle  of 


388  THE  LIFE   OF   FROEBEL. 

womanhood  and  of  her  first  and  deepest  rela- 
tion, namely,  to  childhood. 

But  there  is  a  third  person  in  this  innermost 
circle  of  Froebel's  apostles,  a  man,  Wilhelm 
Middendorf,  often  named  before,  which  person 
completes  the  trinity  of  consecration.  This  man 
was  a  student  of  theology,  but  his  evangel  was  the 
Gospel  according  to  Froebel,  to  which  he  gave 
his  whole  life.  An  eloquent  man,  very  fascinating 
in  speech  and  manner ;  but  he  had  ultimately  one 
article  of  faith,  one  text,  from  which  he  preached, 
namely:  Froebel  and  him  crucified.  He  was 
more  deeply  ingrown  with  the  prophet  than 
either  of  the  women  disciples ;  he  was  the  bosom 
companion  of  Froebel  forty  years,  in  war  and  in 
peace,  developing  with  him,  imaging  him  in  all 
his  stages  of  growth.  He  does  not  show  the 
separation  or  the  twofoldness  of  Froebel  which 
we  see  in  the  two  women;  he  was  the  whole 
Froebel,  both  heart  and  head ;  still  he  had  the 
power,  through  his  gift  of  speech,  of  translating 
Froebel  into  Middendorf,  lending  his  own  trans- 
parent soul  as  an  outer  garb  for  the  dark,  oracu- 
lar spirit  of  the  prophet. 

These  were  the  three  beloved  disciples,  the 
persons  in  the  nearest  relation  to  the  master, 
those  who  received  most  directly  and  intimately 
his  spirit.  From  these  it  will  pass  to  others  and 
be  perpetuated,  the  two  women  long  surviving 
Froebel,  but  never  faltering  or  even  stopping  in 


THE  KINDERGARDEN  PROPAGATED.       389 

their  work  of  disseminating  the  faith.  Such  is 
the  primal,  most  immediate  circle  of  the  Froe- 
belian  Apostolate,  coming  directly  from  the  cen- 
tral soul,  and  then  propagating  itself  in  ever- 
increasing  concentric  waves  around  the  Earth  and 
down  Time. 

IV. 

Froebel  at  JH  am  burg. 

Very  delightful  has  been  the  summer  of  1849 
at  Liebenstein,  and  very  fruitful.  It  seems  as 
if  the  period  of  happiness  and  of  success  has  at 
last  dawned  on  the  storm-beaten  man  of  adver- 
sity. Froebel  has  made  his  greatest  conquests 
on  the  Rock  of  Love,  which  has  showered  upon 
him  all  the  good  gifts  promised  by  its  name. 
Around  his  thought-life  the  Baroness  has  thrown 
an  atmosphere  of  deep  appreciation  and  devotion, 
around  his  home-life  Luise  Levin  has  poured 
out  the  very  spirit  of  Love.  Then  a  band  of 
faithful  pupils  has  mirrored  his  apostolic  zeal  in 
their  own.  Verily  Liebenstein  this  year  has 
been  to  him  the  Rock  of  Love. 

But  the  time  has  passed,  the  people  are  scatter- 
ing, the  leaves  are  falling,  the  winter  is  coming. 
Froebel  also  is  getting  ready  to  depart,  for  he  has 
received  a  call  to  Hamburg,  where  he  is  to  stay 
six  months,  devoting  himself  to  the  work  of  the 
kindergarden.  He  is  promised  a  handsome 
stipend  for  his  services,  one  hundred  thalers  a 


390      -  THE  LIFE   OF   FROEBEL. 

month  with  expenses  paid.  An  unusual  emolu- 
ment for  him ;  he  had  to  take  it,  though  he  was 
tired  of  his  wandering  life.  Aged  67,  he  again 
starts  out  with  an  alluring  hope  to  beckon  him 
forward ;  for  who  knows  but  that  a  great  city 
like  Hamburg  may  be  his  true  destination  after 
all?  So  he  leaves  his  farm-house  with  its  idyllic 
peace  and  love,  for  a  new  career  in  a  new  world. 

The  outlook  was  indexed  enticing.  There  were 
a  number  of  ardent  supporters  of  the  Idea  in 
Hamburg,  and  at  least  three  kindergardens.  A 
very  active  woman,  Doris  Ljitkens  by  name,  head 
of  a  flourishing  school,  a  skillful  writer,  and  a 
defender  of  Froebel  in  the  newspapers,  was  his 
chief  reliance.  Then  Alwine  Middendorf  was 
there,  the  charming  Alwine,  a  superb  kinder- 
gar  dner,  yet  a  more  superb  proselytizer,  to 
whom  mortal  lips  seemed  powerless  to  say 
no.  She  had  already  chosen  her  life's  own 
knight,  being  betrothed  to  Dr.  Wichard  Lange, 
a  voung  man  of  great  attainments  and  promise, 
a  writer  of  power,  and  a  favorite  pupil  of  Dies- 
terweg.  Lange  would  certainly  be  wheeled  into 
line  with  his  pen,  and,  possibly,  as  he  was  a 
teacher,  with  his  vocation,  by  the  beautiful  kin- 
dergarden  in  general,  and  specially  by  the  beau- 
tiful kindergardner,  Alwine. 

Such,  at  least,  was  Froebel' s  hope,  as  he  set 
out  for  the  city  of  the  North.  He  was  a  man 
who  could  nourish  great  expectations  on  small 


THE  KINDERGARDEN  PROPAGATED.        391 

capital,  and  who  was  liable,  therefore,    to   disap- 
pointments equally  great. 

A  Woman's  Club,  powerful  and  aggressive, 
was  the  center  of  an  aspiring  movement  of  the 
Hamburg  women  at  this  time.  Emancipation 
was  its  watchword  —  emancipation  of  the 
female  sex,  after  long  suppression  and  servi- 
tude. The  term  was  indeed  vague,  and  had  a 
number  of  different  meanings  in  the  Club ;  but 
it  was  very  stirring,  and  roused  the  hearts  of  the 
women  like  a  trumpet  call ;  what  they  lacked  in 
clearness  of  head,  they  made  up  in  intensity  of 
emotion. 

Two  delegates  from  this  Club  appeared  at 
Liebenstein  one  day,  in  order  to  get  acquainted 
with  Froebel,  whom  they  had  heard  of  as  the 
great  coming  apostle  of  woman.  By  chance 
they  first  saw  Middendorf ,  who  happened  to  be 
present  on  a  visit  from  Keilhau.  At  once  they 
concluded  that  he  must  be  the  prophet,  he  the 
stout-bodied,  full-faced,  broad-chested,  and  not 
that  other  lank,  long-haired  man  sitting  not  far 
off.  Curiously  enough,  these  women  of  the 
North  selected  their  own  countryman  by  a 
natural  affinity,  for  Middendorf  was  a  North- 
German  (Platt-Deutscher),  from  Dortmund, 
while  Froebel  was  rather  a  South-German,  from 
Thuringia.  But  the  loyal  Middendorf  pointed 
them  to  the  real  prophet  there  present,  who, 
however,  did  not  please  the  ladies  as  well  as  their 


392  THE  LIFE   OF    FBOEBEL. 

own  landsman,  with  his  beautiful  blue  eyes  and 
great  shock  of  hair,  with  his  winning  manners 
and  his  sweetly-tuned  speech.  At  once  they  de- 
clared :  "  But  you  must  come  to  Hamburg,  too." 
This  was  agreed  upon,  as  it  was  generally  the 
policy  that  Middendorf  should  speak  in  advance, 
like  John  the  Baptist,  and  prepare  the  way  for  the 
greater  one  coming  after.  Then  the  father  had  a 
natural  longing  to  see  daughter  Alwine,  who  was 
making  such  a  stir  in  the  great  city  of  Hamburg, 
and  also  to  take  a  look  at  young  Wichard  Lange, 
his  future  son-in-law. 

So  it  came  to.  pass  that  both  Froebel  and  Mid- 
dendorf set  out  for  Hamburg.  The  two  friends 
were  men  superbly  equipped  with  the  virtue  of 
Hope ;  both  were  still  good  dreamers  in  spite  of 
many  a  disallusion,  and  their  journey  lay  under 
a  sky  which  was  one  succession  of  rainbows. 
Perhaps  after  all  Hamburg  is  the  true  place  for 
the  home  of  the  Idea,  and  the  institution  may 
have  to  move  from  its  secluded  country  nook  to 
the  busy  life  of  a  great  city. 

For  the  present  let  the  two  old  boys  pass  on 
their  way  under  the  high-sounding  arches  of 
great  expectations,  but  let  us  turn  and  look  at 
the  other  thread  which  the  Destinies  are  secretly 
weaving  into  this  Hamburg  scheme.  Those  same 
two  women  delegates  who  had  appeared  at  Fred- 
erick Froebel' s  Liebenstein,  were  on  their  jour- 
ney homeward  from  Switzerland,  whither  they 


THE  KINDEKGARDEN  PROPAGATED.        393 

had  gone  to  see  Carl  Froebel,  at  that  time  princi- 
pal of  an  educational  institute  at  Zurich,  who  had 
also  published  to  the  world  his  Idea,  that  of  a 
great  Female  High-School  or  University  (Hoch- 
schule))  which  was  to  be  the  grand,  illuminating 
center  for  woman's  emancipation  throughout 
Germany  and  the  whole  world.-  Certainly  Ham- 
burg was  just  the  place  for  such  an  institution, 
and  the  Woman's  Club  just  the  right  patron  for 
its  protection  and  promotion.  Accordingly,  Carl 
Froebel  was  engaged  and  appeared  at  Hamburg 
at  the  same  time  with  uncle  Frederick,  having 
brought  along  his  wife,  a  very  capable  and  active 
woman,  tremendously  enthusiastic  for  the  eman- 
cipation of  her  sex,  and,  of  course,  for  her  hus- 
band's new  Female  University. 

Now,  the  reader  must  remember  this  Carl 
Froebel  as  one  of  the  Froebel  boys  of  the  old 
Keilhau  period,  sons  of  Christoph  Froebel,  for 
whose  education  uncle  Frederick  Froebel  had  first 
established  his  school,  more  than  thirty  years 
before.  The  reader  must  also  remember  the 
withdrawal  of  those  boys  from  Keilhau,  twenty- 
four  .  years  since.  Again  in  a  strange  city 
nephew  and  uncle  are  thrown  together  in  a  very 
similar,  if  not  quite  the  same  cause;  at  least 
both  have  a  common  purpose  in  the  education 
of  the  woman  and  of  the  child. 

Still  there  is  a  decided  difference  between  the 
doctrines  and  the  purposes  of  the  two  Froebels. 


394  TH&  LIFE    OF   FROEBEL. 

Carl,  besides  his  Female  University,  is  a  full- 
fledged  radical,  and  is  propagating  a  socialistic 
scheme,  which  brings  him  into  politics  and  throws 
him  into  opposition  to  the  established  order  —  an 
attitude  which  his  uncle  always  avoided,  even 
though  he  was  not  very  favorably  impressed 
with  the  existing  institutions.  Then  again  Carl 
Froebel's  emancipation  of  women  meant  quite  a 
different  thing  from  that  of  Frederick  Froebel, 
who  chiefly  intended  to  educate  the  woman  to 
be  the  educatress  of  the  child,  as  mother  or 
as  kindergardner. 

Assuredly  a  splendid  opportunity  for  the 
Goddess  of  Confusion  has  presented  itself  in 
Hamburg  —  confusion  between  names,  things, 
and  persons.  And  she  will  not  be  slow  to  seize 
her  chance,  causing  a  great  uproar  and  display 
of  Hate,  of  which  no  outsider  and  very  few  in- 
siders can  tell  the  source.  And  to  make  this 
confusion  more  confounding,  Carl  Froebel  has, 
so  to  speak,  appropriated  his  uncle's  special  work 
and  latest  invention,  the  kindergarden,  incorpo- 
rating the  same  into  his  scheme  of  education  and 
socialism.  It  should  also  be  added,  that  both 
these  men  were  engaged  and  supported,  for  the 
most  part,  by  the  same  set  of  people.  Such  are 
the  chief  elements  which  the  above-mentioned 
Goddess  (Confusionaria  let  her  be  called)  will 
proceed  to  mix  together  in  a  diabolic  compound 
of  misunderstandings,  vilifications,  plottings  and 


THE  KINDERGARDEN  PROPAGATED.        395 

counterplottings,  that  all  Hamburg  will  be  trans- 
formed into  a  veritable  Inferno,  and  uncle  Fred- 
erick's visit,  though  heralded  by  a  glorious 
sunrise,  will  come  to  resemble  a  dolorous  jour- 
ney through  the  dark  Netherworld,  not  unlike 
that  seen  by  Dante.  (52) 

The  reader  will  ask,  Why  did  not  nephew  and 
uncle  join  hands  in  the  work  which  both  had  in 
common  or  nearly  so?  Uncle,  too,  having  edu- 
cated this  nephew,  might  have  sufficient  influence 
to  restrain  him  in  his  extravagant  theories  and 
actions.  Not  at  all;  utterly  impossible  is  any- 
thing but  Hate,  for  the  old  curse  has  now  begun 
to  work  far  down  in  the  depths  of  their  souls, 
though  they  be  kindred  in  blood.  There  enters 
that  fatal  heritage  which  has  run  its  underlying 
line  of  dark  descent  through  the  whole  mortal 
life  before  us ;  again  there  rises  to  the  surface 
from  its  hidden  haunts  in  the  human  heart  that 
unquenchable  revenge,  which  the  sons  of  Chris- 
toph  Froebel  felt  toward  their  uncle  Frederick 
Froebel,  for  what  they  deemed  his  wrong  to 
their  mother.  And  the  uncle  on  his  part  has  his 
counter  accusation  against  these  sons,  charging 
them  with  base  ingratitude  toward  himself  as 
well  as  treachery  to  the  Idea,  inasmuch  he  had 
given  up  his  early  life  chiefly  to  their  education. 

Thus  the  Furies  of  the  Family  Froebel  are 
turned  loose  suddenly  in  the  distant  city  of 
Hamburg,  where  chance  has  thrown  uncle  and 


396  THE  LIFE   OF    FROEBEL. 

nephew  together  in  a  common  wor.k  and  with  a 
common  purpose.  Chance  is  it  or  the  unseen 
Ministers  overwatching  the  human  deed  and 
seeking  the  right  opportunity  to  bring  it  back  to 
the  doer  through  the  most  devious,  unexpected 
channels?  It  is  now  a  quarter  of  a  century 
lacking  one  year  since  Julius  and  Carl  Froebel 
left  their  uncle  at  Keilhau,  burning  with  a  sense 
of  his  injustice,  uttering  in  their  hearts  an  impre- 
cation which  time  has  not  softened  but  intensi- 
fied. A  long  period,  but  Nemesis  has  a  long 
memory,  and  reckons  up  compound  interest  on 
all  her  debts. 

So  there  will  be  no  co-operation  between  the 
two  Froebels,  and  no  compromise,  but  quite  the 
opposite ;  they  will  seek  to  undermine  and  to 
destroy  each  other's  work  and  influence.  Two 
parties  will  spring  up  from  this  fatal  drop  of 
dragon's  blood ;  they  will  name  themselves,  after 
the  age  of  the  leaders,  the  Old  Froebelians  and 
the  New  Froebelians,  keeping  up  a  copious  hail- 
storm of  mutual  disparagement,  in  which  the  lie 
was  one  of  the  chief  projectiles  on  both  sides. 
This  whole  Hamburg  period  will  be  one  pro- 
longed maneuvering  and  struggle  between  the 
two  parties.  People  will  divide  and  grow  hot  in 
quarrel,  of  whose  hidden  source  they  have  not 
the  least  knowledge,  fighting  like  the  Homeric 
hero  in  a  cloud,  which,  however,  seems  to  make 
them  only  more  infuriated.  Into  such  a  mad 


THE  KINDERGARDEN  PROPAGATED.       397 

discordant  fermentation  the  jolly  Hamburgers 
are  set  by  a  few  vitriol  gouts  of  that  old  Froebel 
blood-feud. 

The  two  protagonists,  however,  uncle  and 
nephew,  have  enlisted  for  the  war.  Apparently 
no  word  of  conciliation  drops  from  either's  lips; 
their  secret  demons  are  interlocked  in  an  inexor- 
able grip  which  cannot  be  broken  till  one  or  the 
other  be  hurled  from  the  field.  Which  one  of 
them  will  it  be? 

Meanwhile  let  us  go  back  to  the  side  of  Fred- 
erick Froebel  and  see  what  he  is  doing  with  his 
time.  First,  Middendorf  gives  his  preparatory 
lectures,  according  to  the  program  ;  very  success- 
ful they  are,  quite  too  successful,  since  Froebel 
who  is  to  follow  cannot  help  producing  disap- 
pointment by  comparison.  Not  elegant  in  man- 
ner or  eloquent  in  speech ;  not  stylishly  clad  or 
comely  in  person ;  using  strange  words  quite  un- 
intelligible to  most  of  his  hearers  —  he  is  not  for 
a  moment  to  be  compared  with  silver-tongued 
Middendorf  in  expounding  his  own  doctrine. 
Then  he  has  the  unfortunate  habit  of  blinking 

o 

with  his  eyes  during  his  address,  sometimes 
closing  them  altogether,  as  if  he  were  merely 
talking  to  himself,  quite  oblivious  of  his  audience. 
A  disenchanting  habit,  almost  disrespectful;  it  is 
true  that  Middendorf  has  the  same  habit  or  one 
very  similar,  but  in  him,  the  favorite,  it  is  not  so 
bad;  it  is  actually  interesting.  So  criticism 


398  THE    LIFE    OF    FROEBEL. 

takes  its  usual   tilt  at   poor   Froebel,   the    sole 
creative  genius  in  this  whole  business. 

Still  he  goes  ahead  with  his  lectures,  impart- 
ing instruction  to  every  willing  listener,  training 
pupils  in  the  kindergarden  principle  and  practice. 
With  all  its  ups  and  downs,  it  is  a  prolific  time 
for  him;  he  seems  to  have  unfolded  quite  a 
scheme  of  philosophy,  and  formulated  it  as  the 
underlying  foundation  for  his  educational  struc- 
ture. And  yet  could  he  help  feeling  the  disson- 
ance within?  Preaching  the  reconciliation  of 
opposites  as  the  fundamental  law  of  the  kinder- 
garden,  of  life,  of  all  creation,  he  must  have 
experienced  a  chilly  blast  from  that  unreconciled 
opposition  in  his  own  heart,  the  cleft  between 
uncle  and  nephew.  "All-sided  unification  of 
life  "  — such  is  the  watchword;  yes,  but  what  a 
scission  in  thine  own  bosom  with  thine  own 
blood !  Conceal  it  as  he  might,  such  a  discord- 
ant thrill  must  have  darted  through  him  often  in 
the  very  glow  of  his  exhortation  to  unity.  But 
no  self -exaltation  on  thy  part  and  on  mine,  good 
reader ;  rather  let  each  of  us  ask  himself :  Hast 
thou  never  felt  in  thine  own  intimate  experience 
with  thyself  the  same  accursed  shiver  of  dis- 
sonance between  thy  spoken  word  and  thy 
unspoken  heart?  Then  confess  to  thyself  in 
silence  thy  remorseful  throes  and  perchance  thy 
penitential  tear.  Not  merely  thy  pity  for  the 
soul-rent  Froebel  is  thy  due,  but  a  living  fellow- 


THE  E1NDEKGARDEN  PROPAGATED.       399 

sympathy  from  just  another  such  like-limited 
mortal  treading  the  wine-press  of  life. 

In  the  meantime  it  must  be  noted  that  Dr. 
Wichard  Lange  is  showing  great  activity  and 
devotion  to  the  Froebelian  cause,  as  has  already 
been  prophesied.  He  becomes  editor  of  the 
Wbchenschrift ',  or  Weekly  Gazette  for  the  ad- 
vancement of  Froebel's  efforts.  This  was  started 
in  January,  1850,  and  it  contains  important 
papers  by  Froebel  himself,  chiefly  the  product  of 
his  lectures  at  Hamburg  and  Liebenstein  in  their 
latest  form.  Thus  journalism  is  made  to  take 
part  in  the  Hamburg  contest. 

But  Carl  Froebel  is  not  behind  hand  on  his 
side.  He  also  employs  the  printed  page  for 
attack,  defense,  propagation.  He  writes  a 
pamphlet  under  the  title,  High  Schools  for  Young 
Ladies  and  Kinder  gar  dens,  which  is  destined  to 
be  the  very  thread  of  Fate  itself  woven  into  the 
earthly  career  of  Frederick  Froebel.  Note  that 
title  employed  by  him,  how  he  takes  up  and  in- 
tertwines with  his  own  scheme  the  special  work 
and  property  of  his  uncle,  so  that  the  two  men 
with  their  purposes  become  hopelessly  bound 
together  and  confused  in  the  mind  of  the  public. 
Who  can  now  tell  which  is  which?  But  that 
fateful  pamphlet  —  its  full  history  is  still  to  be 
told. 

Yet  the  other  fact  was  painfully  manifest: 
these  two  men,  uncle  and  nephew,  bearing  the 


400  THE    LIFE    OF   FROEBEL. 

one  name,  and  advocating  the  one  cause  appar- 
ently, were  the  bitterest  foes.  People  in  general 
who  sought  to  interest  themselves  in  the  new 
doctrine,  stood  dazed  at  this  enmity,  for  which 
no  reason  appeared  on  the  surface,  and  of  which 
the  real  reason  was  concealed  naturally  by  both 
parties.  Uncle  and  nephew  had  good  grounds 
for  shunning  every  allusion  to  that  old  wrong, 
real  or  supposed,  which  was  the  dark  underlying 
fountain-head  of  their  animosity.  Still  both  knew 
the  fact,  knew  it  well,  and  furthermore  both 
must  have  known  it  to  be  the  mainspring  of 
their  present  bitter  warfare. 

Thus  the  demonic  Powers  lurking  deep  in  the 
heart  of  uncle  and  nephew  fought  their  battle  for 
months,  and  dragged  into  their  nefarious  strug- 
gle all  their  innocent  friends  in  Hamburg  quite 
unaware  of  what  was  the  matter.  Advantage  and 
.repulse,  now  on  this  side,  now  on  that,  with 
much  shifting  about  and  fluctuation;  on  the 
whole  Carl  Froebel  seems  to  be  gaining.  Cer- 
tainly things  did  not  mend  on  the  side  of  the  old 
man,  who,  worn  but  with  the  conflict  outside  and 
inside,  at  last  exclaimed :  Let  me  get  out  of  this 
Hamburg  Hell,  let  me  flee  back  to  my  Rock  of 
Love,  niy  Liebenstein,  away  from  this  pit  of 
Hate,  to  which  I  came  in  an  evil  hour. 

And  now  we  may  see  Frederick  Froebel  in  full 
flight  from  the  city  of  the  North,  which  he  had  en- 
teredli  few  months  ago  almost  borne  aloft  by  gold- 


THE  KINDERGARDEN  PROPAGATED.       401 

en-winged  dreams  of  future  triumph.  Exhausted, 
broken  in  spirit,  profoundly  disillusioned,  he  flees 
out  of  his  diabolic  environment  which  has  called 
forth  not  only  a  fierce  outer  conflict,  but  a  fiercer 
inner  one,  for  he  must  have  felt  a  sharp  twinge 
every  time  he  uttered  that  pivotal  wording  of  his 
soul's  deepest  striving,  Life's  unification.  Such 
a  rending  by  the  demons  without  and  within  he 
can  no  longer  endure ;  off  he  speeds,  with  the 
resolution  that  if  he  can  get  back  this  time,  he 
will  never  again  quit  his  Liebenstein.  Thus  we 
may  bring  his  soul  before  ourselves,  seeking  to 
catch  an  inner  glimpse  of  it  during  this  flight- 
But  Avhat  about  Carl  Froebel?  He  holds  the 
field  of  battle,  and  can  well  claim  the  victory. 
Evidently  he  is  not  too  good  a  man  not  to  chuckle 
over  his  departed  antagonist,  though  his  own 
uncle,  with  a  triumphant  look  of  satiated  revenge. 
He  erects  his  trophy ;  the  Female  University  is 
started  and  thrives  for  a  short  time ;  but  it  begins 
to  wane,  and  after  two  years  it  sinks  to  rise  no 
more.  The  counter-stroke  of  destiny  comes  to 
him  also,  and  then  it  is  the  nephew's  turn  to  flee 
from  the  Hamburg  field,  as  the  uncle  once  fled. 
Such  is  fhe  fateful  story  of  the  meeting  of  the 
two  Froebels  in  the  distant  city,  their  conflict  of 
hot  revenge,  their  separation.  Still  Carl  Froebel 
has  left  behind  him  his  printed  word  in  that 
pamphlet,  whose  chief  effect  is  yet  to  come,  with 
a  blow  descending  upon  the  head  of  the  uncle 


402  THE  LIFE   OF    FEOEBEL. 

like  that  of  the  Destroyer.  And  we  must  add 
that  Time,  the  grand  Adjudicator  of  colliding 
Ideas,  has  strikingly  justified  the  thought  of  Carl 
Froebel  in  the  matter  of  the  Female  University 
and  the  higher  education  of  women. 

This  Hamburg  conflict  must  also  be  noted  as 

O 

the  opening  of  the  long  series  of  great  kinder- 
garden  quarrels.  They  have  the  authority  of 
Froebel's  own  example,  he  began  them.  Already 
we  have  seen  quite  a  little  tussle  of  his  at  Darm- 
stadt with  Dr.  Folsing.  As  the  elder  Disraeli 
wrote  a  book  on  the  quarrels  of  authors,  so  a  big 
volume  might  be  written  on  the  quarrels  of  kin- 
dergardners,  tracing  their  course  from  Froebel 
down  through  quite  all  the  great  apostles,  partic- 
ularly the  women,  so  many  of  whom  seem  by 
their  conduct  to  illustrate  the  law  of  opposites 
without  the  reconciliation. 

Happily  such  a  discordant  theme  belongs  not 
in  this  book,  and  so  let  it  be  dropped  just  here. 
Far  more  pleasant  is  the  task  now  before  us :  to 
follow  Froebel's  return  from  his  infernal  journey 
back  to  his  paradise. 

V. 

Marienthal. 

In  the  spring  of  1850  Froebel  was  again  loca- 
ted in  Liebenstein  at  the  farm-house,  and  was 
making  preparations  to  begin  his  work  with  fresh 


THE  KINDERGAKDEN  PROPAGATED.        403 

zeal.  The  Hamburg  nightmare  with  its  awful 
discipline  was  over;  more  than  ever  he  could 
now  appreciate  his  home  on  the  Rock  of  Love 
with  its  peace.  Luise  Levin  is  on  hand,  the 
center  of  this  home-life,  the  very  incarnation  of 
the  woman  as  home-maker.  No  wonder  Froebel 
loved  her  more  than  ever  after  the  Hamburg  ex- 
perience ;  such  a  happy-making  atmosphere  he 
had  not  breathed  while  out  of  her  presence ;  no 
such  woman  —  she  is  quite  perfect  in  his  eyes 
now  —  had  he  seen  in  his  travels.  So  our  Ger- 
man Dante,  having  escaped  from  Inferno,  finds 
again  his  Beatrice  who  is  to  lead  him  into  Para- 
diso. 

But  look  around,  what  does  all  this  bustle 
mean?  Things  are  taken  from  their  places 
and  packed  up ;  household  articles  are  brought 
together,  the  mirror  is  lifted  down  carefully  from 
the  wall  and  put  between  two  bed-ticks.  What! 
moving  again !  Yes,  Froebel  is  about  to  leave 
the  farm-house  with  its  adjacent  pens  and  stables 
and  smells,  and  settle  in  Marienthal,  a  hunting- 
castle  belonging  to  the  Duke,  which  is  near  by, 
and  is  very  suitable  for  the  purpose  o'f  a  school. 
Quite  respectable  our  quarters  will  now  be,  yes, 
elegant  in  a  moderate  way ;  the  high-toned  guests 
of  Bath  Liebenstein  can  henceforth  visit  the  man 
Froebel  and  see  his  work  without  such  a  fearful 
outlay  of  condescension,  and  so  much  actual 
discomfort. 


404  THE    LIFE    OF   FROEBEL. 

But  how  was  all  this  brought  about?  Through 
the  Baroness,  now  the  most  devoted  adherent 
of  Froebel,  and  always  looking  out  for  his  per- 
sonal welfare  and  the  good  of  the  cause.  During 
the  preceding  summer  (1849)  they  were  taking 
a  walk  in  the  neighborhood  of  Liebenstein,  and 
passed  near  the  Duke's  pleasantly  situated  hunt- 
ing castle,  called  Marienthal.  Froebel  stopped 
and  said :  ' '  That  would  be  a  fine  place  for  our 
institute.  Then  the  name  would  suit  so  well- 
Marienthal,  the  valley  of  the  Marys,  whom  we 
intend  to  educate  as  the  mothers  of  mankind, 
as  the  first  Mary  educated  the  Savior  of  the 
world."  Thus  his  work  has  a  religious  cast  in  his 
own  mind,  and  he  connects  it  with  sacred  story. 
These  new  Marys  are  the  kindergardners,  not 
one,  but  many,  yes  all  women  :  these  are  now  to 
do  for  all  what  the  one  Mary  did  for  one  long 
ago  —  train  a  divine  ideal. 

In  such  fashion  Froebel' s  symbolic  fancy  was 
in  the  habit  of  playing  with  names,  putting  into 
this  kind  of  play  also  a  profound  meaning,  as 
well  as  into  that  of  children.  But  the  Baroness 
has  gotten  her  cue  in  the  matter  —  Froebel 
would  like  to  have  that  unoccupied  hunting-castle 
Marienthal.  In  her  courtly  way  she  moves  the 
Duchess,  and  the  Duchess  moves  the  Duke,  and 
the  Duke.speaks  to  the  officials,  who  throw  obsta- 
cles in  the  way.  Such  was  the  first  wave  spend- 
ing itself  upon  the  shore  of  indifference ;  but  the 


THE  KINDERGARDEN  PROPAGATED.       405 

persistent  Baroness  starts  another  and  still 
another,  always  tactful  yet  never  ceasing;  in  the 
most  delightful  way  she  bores  nearly  to  death 
every  official  who  has  anything  to  do  with  that 
hunting-castle.  Of  course  she  is  going  to  get 
it  —  what  mortal  can  hold  out  against  such  cease- 
less trituration?  —  though  the  impatient  Froebel 
quite  despairs  on  account  of  the  delay. 

In  this  connection  she  tells  a  good  story. 
Through  her  influence  Froebel  had  been  invited 
to  dine  with  the  Duchess  and  to  explain  his 
doctrines  to  the  company.  Of  course  he  could 
not  appear  at  court  in  that  long  old-German  coat 
of  his,  so  he  takes  out  his  holiday  dress,  his  good 
clothes,  which  he  had  not  used  for  some  time, 
from  a  drawer  in  the  closet,  which,  like  the  whole 
farm-house,  was  permeated  with  the  smell  of  the 
stable.  To  this  smell,  however,  Froebel  had 
grown  so  accustomed,  that  his  nasal  watch-dog 
never  barked  the  least  notice.  So,  forth  he  goes, 
is  ushered  into  the  ducal  parlor,  and  takes  his 
seat.  Not  long  afterwards  the  majestic  Duchess 
with  her  daughters,  gay  frolicsome  Princesses, 
sweep  into  the  drawing-room  in  state,  the 
Baroness  following.  At  once  the  Duchess  ob- 
served the  change  in  the  atmosphere  of  her 
apartments,  and,  seeing  a  window  open  not  far 
off,  concluded  that  this  new  odor  must  come 
from  the  outside.  She  commanded  the  windows 
to  be  closed,  but  that  only  made  matters  worse. 


406  THE    LIFE    OF   F  ROE  BEL. 

The  Baroness,  from  her  own  experience  at  the 
farm-house,  recognized  the  familiar  smell,  and 
at  once  divined  its  source.  She  whispered  to 
the  Duchess,  and  was  overheard  by  the  daugh- 
ters ;  at  once  there  was  an  outbreak  of  hilarity 
from  the  group,  especially  from  the  merry  young 
Princesses.  Froebel,  who  must  have  been  aston- 
ished at  the  mirth  of  this  reception,  was  tact- 
fully informed  by  the  Baroness  of  its  cause ; 
whereat  he  joined  in  the  laugh  with  a  happy 
turn :  ' '  Your  Highness  sees  that  I  have  brought 
along  with  me  a  new  argument  in  favor  of  mov- 
ing to  Marienthal." 

After  some  months  the  Baroness  had  the 
pleasure  of  presenting  to  Froebel  the  official 
document  which  granted  him  permission  to  oc- 
cupy the  much  desired  premises.  So  we  may 
henceforth  consider  the  aged  prophet  to  be 
located  in  a  happy  home  and  in  beautiful  sur- 
roundings at  Marienthal. 

When  the  Baroness  arrived  at  Bath  Lieben- 
stein  in  June,  1850,  she  found  Froebel  settled 
and  at  work  in  Marienthal.  She  had  returned 
for  another  course  of  instruction  and  of  con- 
versation; indeed,  she  could  not  stay  away. 
She  had  heard  the  call  to  a  new  duty  and  new 
life  during  the  previous  summer,  no  doubt  of  it; 
she  must  again  see  and  hear  the  prophet  in  his 
own  home.  Then  her  services  are  needed  sorely ; 
better  than  ever  she  can  expound  his  doctrines, 


THE  KINDERGARDEN  PROPAGATED.       407 

better  than  ever  she  can  turn  the  stream  of  high 
personages  from  Bath  Liebenstein  to  Froebel's 
new  and  agreeable  quarters,  which  he  has 
obtained  through  her  intercession.  But  if  she 
needed  Froebel,  Froebel  needed  her  also  —  her 
profound  sympathy  and  appreciation.  He  never 
had  such  a  listener,  at  least  not  for  his 
thought  —  one  who  could  so  dexterously  wind 
after  him  through  all  the  labyrinthine  tortuosi- 
ties of  his  subtlest  thinking. 

They  had  been  separated  some  eight  or  nine 
months,  during  which  both  had  been  active  and 
had  gathered  rich  experience.  She  had  started 
her  propaganda,  she  speaks  of  lecturing  at 
Merseburg  on  the  kindergarden  in  February, 
1850.  Indeed,  wherever  she  was,  she  was  using 
her  influence  for  the  Idea.  She  had  taken  her 
vow  to  the  cause,  and  she  had  found  her  voca- 
tion. She  was  now  going  to  do  what  her  deep- 
est nature  had  always  demanded,  but  which  had 
hitherto  been  suppressed  by  the  conventions  of 
her  station  in  life.  To  vindicate  her  original 

O 

selfhood  is  now  her  purpose,  and  to  become  the 
apostle  of  just  that  vindicated  right.  She  will 
not  only  assert  her  right  of  unfolding  her  inborn 
talent,  but  will  make  herself  the  champion  of 
that  right,  even  in  the  little  child. 

In  a  conversation  with  Froebel  she  speaks 
thus,  which  we  take  to  be  her  own  confession: 
"  The  originality  of  human  nature  must  be  res- 


408  THE    LIFE    OF    FEOEBEL. 

cued ;  the  innermost,  peculiar  Self  of  each  indi- 
vidual must  be  able  to  come  forth  in  freedom,  in 
order  that  the  more  gifted,  the  strongest  souls 
may  not  let  themselves  be  stamped  with  the  im- 
press of  mediocrity,  or  be  compelled  to  consume 
their  lives  in  pain  because  they  are  not  able  to 
find  satisfaction  in  conventional  existence  among 
people  of  mere  form.  Whoever  knows  this  pain 
of  not  being  allowed  to  show  one's  best  and  truest 
Self  without  being  misunderstood  and  branded 
as  a  heretic,  that  person  will  be  your  ally,"  and 
that  person  is  the  Baroness,  who  has  here  given 
quite  a  little  peep  into  her  life,  and  her  conflicts 
with  her  high-born  environment. 

What  has  trained  her  to  this  sacrifice  for  a 
great  cause,  in  which  she  meets  with  the  opposi- 
tion of  her  family,  the  hostility  of  her  aristo- 
cratic class,  the  ridicule  of  all?  We  again  may 
hear  in  a  passage  the  note  of  confession :  ' «  Only 
those  who  have  passed  through  deep  suffering, 
who  have  learned,  under  the  weight  of  the  hard- 
est trials  of  life,  to  renounce  the  personal  ele- 
ment—  only  those  will  be  found  willing  to  un- 
dertake the  task  of  laboring  for  the  improvement 
of  future  ages.  These  are  only  the  few,"  and  the 
Baroness  is  one  of  them,  having  been  suppressed 
in  the  very  germ  of  her  individuality  by  the  con- 
ventions surrounding  her  birth,  and  also  having 
had  to  undergo  the  sorest  afllictions  in  her  own 
domestic  life, 


THE  KINDEEGAEDEN  PEOPAGATED.       409 

Thus  she  has  suffered,  doubly  suffered,  the 
hardest  blows  from  the  hand  of  Fate,  the  outer 
compeller  of  life.  But  it  is  manifest  that  she 
has  made  the  grand  turn  and  is  henceforth  going 
to  compel  Fate  itself,  that  it  no  longer  have  the 
controlling  power  over  her  career.  She  has  now 
asserted  her  freedom,  and  her  liberator  is  Froe- 
bel.  Through  the  discipline  of  suffering,  which 
is  all  that  Fate  can  impose  upon  the  human  soul, 
she  has  risen  to  the  point  of  self-renunciation, 
and  thus  is  a  free  being,  a  Fate-compeller. 
Every  man  and  woman  have  or  ought  to  have 
their  Declaration  of  Independence,  whose  very 
day,  or  perchance  hour,  they  can  often  tell.  Not 
only  is  there  a  national  but  an  individual  Fourth 
of  July,  to  be  celebrated  by  every  human  being; 
it  may  well  be  observed  more  sacredly  than  any 
physical  birth-day,  being  the  spiritual  birth-day 
of  manhood,  of  the  liberated  Self.  So  the  Baro- 
ness had  her  Independence  Day ;  that  was  the 
day,  yes,  the  very  hour  when  she  met  a  gray- 
haired  man  ( ' '  the  old  fool ' ' )  skipping  and  play- 
ing through  woods  and  fields  with  the  bare-footed, 

o  o 

ragged  peasant  children  of  Liebenstein  —  and 
she  resolved  to  follow  him.  Still  after  the 
Declaration  of  Independence  comes  the  long, 
hard,  weary  struggle  to  make  it  real,  sometimes 
a  seven  years'  war  before  the  final  triumph. 
These  intervening  months  the  Baroness  has  de- 
voted to  fighting  the  battle  of  her  Independence 


410  THE    LIFE    OF    FROEBEL. 

with  all  the  outer  powers  arrayed  against  her 
freedom,  which  have  been  hitherto  her  enslaving 
Fate.  But  now  having  overcome,  thrown  away, 
renounced  forever  "the  personal  element," 
through  which  Fate  clutches  the  human  soul  and 
enthralls  it,  she  is  the  Fate-conipeller. 

And  thus  having  become  the  liberator  of  her- 
self, she  takes  the  next  higher  step,  which  in- 
deed must  be  taken  in  order  to  confirm  and 
secure  that  previous  step :  she  becomes  the  liber- 
atpr  of  others,  specially  of  the  woman  and  child. 
Her  means  is,  of  course,  the  means  through 
which  she  has  been  saved,  the  doctrine  and  work 
of  Froebel,  in  which  she  sees  the  vindication  of 
the  right  of  the  Self  to  its  free  development,  and 
of  this  rig'ht  she  feels  every  pulsation  of  her 
heart  driving  her  to  become  the  apostle. 

She  has  returned  to  Marienthal  a  consecrated 
woman,  seeking  again  the  presence  of  her 
prophet,  who  cannot  help  testing  a  little  the 
depth  of  her  devotion.  We  may  distinctly  hear 
the  holy  vow  in  the  following  conversation  be- 
tween the  initiate  and  the  master : 

FROEBEL  :  « '  Will  you  continue  your  service  to 
the  work  which  is  to  renew  and  rejuvenate 
human  existence  through  the  right  training  of 
childhood?" 

THE  BARONESS:  "  Yes,  assuredly ;  to  the  ex- 
tent of  niy  power,  that  is  what  I  shall  do." 

FROEBEL:    "Whoever  labors  with   me,  takes 


THE  KINDEEGAEDEN  PROPAGATED.       411 

up  a  great  burden,  must  endure  censure  and 
scorn,  must  let  himself  be  torn  in  pieces  and 
burnt  at  the  stake —  can  you  hold  out  under  all 
that?" 

THE  BARONESS:   "  I  hope  to  be  able/' 

Such  is  the  resolution  which  she  has  brought 
back  with  her  to  Liebenstein,  showing  many  a 
gleam  into  the  War  of  Independence  which  she 
has  waged  during  these  months  of  her  absence. 
(53) 

During  these  same  months  Froebel  had  also  had 
his  war  at  Hamburg,  which  has  been  already 
recorded,  of  which  the  success  has  been  some- 
what doubtful.  One  of  the  first  matters  he 
speaks  of  to  the  Baroness  after  her  arrival  is  that 
terrible  experience,  which  still  rouses  him  to 
great  excitement,  though  weeks  have  elapsed. 
Particularly  the  Female  University  of  Carl  Froe- 
bel stirs  him  to  a  fit  of  fury.  He  evidently 
regarded  that  Idea  of  woman's  activity  as  a 
dangerous  rival  to  his  Idea,  as  in  the  following 
outburst:  — 

' '  This  Female  University  spoils  everything  for 
me  with  its  word-cram  which  they  call  philoso- 
phy. And  they  ask  me  to  join  hands  with  them. 
Never,  never!  I  know  my  own  way,  which  God 
has  pointed  out  to  me,  and  I  shall  continue  in 
that,  though  the  whole  world  turns  against  me." 

This  last  sentence  is  probably  a  direct  thrust  at 
the  Baroness  herself,  who  saw  some  good  in  the 


412  THE    LIFE    OF    FEOEBEL. 

Female  University  ainid  its  mistakes.  Still,  she 
sought  in  every  way  to  calm  the  excited  prophet 
and  declares  again  and  again  her  adherence  to 
his  doctrine.  Thus  we  still  feel  the  throes  in 
Froebel's  soul  of  that  Hamburg  conflict  far  away 
in  quiet  Marienthal  after  many  days. 

In  this  matter,  however,  the  pupil  shows  her- 
self broader-minded  than  the  master,  who  has 
allowed  his  outlook  to  be  clouded  by  his  ani- 
mosity to  his  nephew.  Nothing  is  now  plainer 
than  that  the  Female  University  was  also  a 
prophecy,  a  wonderful  prophetic  forecast,  which 
Time  has  already  largely  fulfilled.  The  Baroness 
sees  it,  and  very  gently  vindicates  it,  unwilling 
to  ruffle  too  much  the  old  man's  feelings.  And 
why  not  vindicate  it?  Is  she  not  herself  the 
woman-philosopher,  if  there  ever  was  one? 
She  was  hit  deeply  by  Froebel's  passionate 
objection,  which  unwittingly  smote  that  very 
talent  of  hers  so  effectively  exerted  later  in 
his  cause.  Very  inconsiderate  in  Froebel,  and 
indeed  suicidal  was  it  to  declare  against  philos- 
ophy for  women,  who  seem  destined  to  be  the 
chief  future  cultivators  of  his  and  of  all  philos- 
ophy. 

But  these  little  thrills  of  discord  vanish  in  the 
grand  general  harmony  of  Marienthal,  truly  the 
Valley  of  the  Marys.  The  building,  as  now 
used  and  occupied,  we  may  call  the  modern 
convent,  still  dedicated  to  the  Mother  of  God, 


.      THE  KINDERGAEDEN  PBOPAGATED.       413 

whose  new  nuns  are  the  kindergardners,  at  pres- 
ent going  through  their  novitiate  for  a  great 
fresh  service  to  mankind.  Assuredly  here  is  de- 
votion to  a  sacred  cause,  perchance  the  inner 
vow;  hither  they  are  nocking,  those  who  have 
heard  the  call  and  are  responding  with  faith  in 
their  hearts,  and  with  renewed  consecration, 
among  whom  stands  out  the  Baroness,  and  an- 
other whom  the  stranger  will  always  note  for 
the  sake  of  her  father,  "  the  daughter  of  Dies- 
terweg." 

So  we  have  made  the  transition  from  Hamburg 
to  Marienthal,  veritably  the  rise  out  of  Inferno  to 
a  terrestrial  Paradise,  with  a  few  Purgatorial 
pangs  throbbing  in  between  these  extremes. 
Behold  a  perfect  downpour  of  sunshine  on  blest 
Marienthal!  Froebel's  stormy  life  is  intercalated 
with  a  year  of  celestial  peace  —the  Happy 
Year,  we  shall  name  it  —  which  we  shall  next  in- 
voke our  reader  to  witness  as  a  kind  of  panoramic 
forecast  of  the  Grand  Jubilee  in  the  coming 
New  Jerusalem. 

VI. 

The  Happy  Year. 

We  have  now  arrived  at  the  happiest  period  of 
Froebel's  later  life,  from  the  spring  of  1850  to 
the  summer  of  1851,  somewhat  more  than  a  year 
altogether.  A  time  of  peace  quite  unruffled,  yet 
of  continued  activity ;  more  success  he  had  than 


414  THE    LIFE    OF    FEOEBEL. 

ever  before  during  his  kindergarden  epoch, 
more  recognition,  more  love.  An  emotional 
harmony  and  elevation  pervaded  all  persons  and 
everything  in  his  environment  at  Marienthal, 
which  he  called  the  all-sided  unification  of  life 
(attseidge  Leb&nseinigung) .  This  expression, 
often  used  by  him  previously  to  designate  his 
ideal  end,  he  now  seems  to  have  realized,  and  to 
have  applied  to  an  actual  place  and  institution. 

The  Happy  Year  was  also  a  year  of  festivals, 
small  and  great.  Every  day  almost  had  its  fes- 
tivity. The  little  children  led  by  the  kinder- 
gardners  were  to  be  seen  in  the  yard  before  the 
house,  all  of  them  playing  the  games  with  a  fes- 
tal zest.  The  old  man  was  also  there,  springing 
and  dancing  mid  his  barefooted  urchins,  with 
long,  gray  locks  leaping  up  and  down  on  his  neck 
and  shoulders  in  tune  to  the  strain  of  young 
voices.  Says  he:  "Song  must  accompany 
everything."  Such  is  the  musical  mood  of 
Marienthal  during  these  months ;  the  inner  har- 
mony is  continually  throwing  itself  outwards  into 
vocal  attunement,  and  making  its  atmosphere 
melodiously  warble  with  one  prolonged  carol. 
He  is  reported  as  saying :  < «  You  must  learn  your 
mother  tongue  by  singing  it,  as  the  old  Greeks 
learned  their  Greek  from  the  song  of  Homer." 

o 

So  these  little  ones,  and  big  ones,  too,  were  to 

speak  only  as  the  nightingale  speaks  —  in  a  song. 

Visitors  from  Bath  Liebenstein  flocked  to  the 


THE  KINDEEGAEDEN  PROPAGATED.       415 

new  institute  in  greater  numbers  than  ever. 
Some  saw  in  him  the  prophet,  but  to  the  multi- 
tude he  was  still  «« the  old  fool."  It  is  reported 
that  the  most  unfruitful  class  of  guests,  the  most 
indurated,  hide-bound,  least  accessible  souls, 
were  the  professors  from  the  Universities.  On 
the  whole,  the  women  were  the  most  responsive 
to  Froebel's  work.  Upon  a  long  table  in  the 
large  reception  room,  the  playthings  and  articles 
made  by  the  children  were  displayed ;  the  master 
himself,  at  stated  hours,  was  there  to  explain  his 
inventions,  the  use  of  his  materials,  and  the  prin- 
ciples involved.  He  was  also  ready  to  sell  his 
book,  The  Education  of  Man,  or  a  copy  of  his 
Mother  Play -songs,  to  all  who  were  willing  to 
buy  —  not  very  many.  He  had  no  publisher,  he 
had  to  be  agent  for  his  own  wares  —  not  a  good 
agent.  — 

Certain  people  of  a  supersensible  daintiness' 
were  always  repelled  by  the  home-spun  and 
the  homely  in  Froebel,  for  he  was  never  a 
handsome  man,  and  his  beauty  had  not  im- 
proved when  age  had  crooked  his  back  and 
knocked  out  his  teeth.  But  the  little  ones  knew 
their  friend.  They  would  run  to  him  in  groups, 
whenever  he  would  appear,  take  him  by  the  hand, 
or  cling  to  that  long  coat  of  his,  eager  to  touch 
even  the  hem  of  his  garment.  The  well-dressed 
children  of  the  guests  of  Bath  Liebenstein,  and 
the  little  rustic  tatterdemalions  belonging  to  the 


416  THE    LIFE    OF    FROEBEL. 

peasantry  would  leap  upon  him  and  around  him 
in  a  common  joy,  and  the  distinction  of  rank 
and  wealth  was  sunk  in  love  for  one  whom  they 
instinctively  felt  to  be  their  greatest  benefactor. 
They  never  failed  to  find  him  out  —  the  man  who 
above  all  others  gave  his  life  just  for  them,  and 
whose  every  action  spake:  "  Come,  let  us  live 
for  our  children." 

Equally  great  was  the  fascination  of  the  child 
for  Froebel,  especially  in  this  latter  part  of  his 
life.  The  sight  of  a  little  one  at  play  wrought 
upon  him  like  a  spell ;  in  that  small  shape  he 
seemed  to  behold  the  image  of  his  own  genius  in 
its  most  transparent  earthly  manifestation;  it 
was  as  if  he  saw  the  genius  of  play  which  was 
his  own,  revealing  itself  to  him  in  visible  outward 
form.  We  find  it  stated  that  he  would  go  out  of 
his  way  across  a  field,  in  order  to  cast  a  glance 
into  the  eyes  of  a  child'  which  he  saw  playing  in 
the  distance.  He  ran  after  it  as  if  to  witness  a 
divine  appearance  flitting  there  before  him,  which 
he  must  look  upon  or  miss  the  opportunity  of  a 
god-like  presence.  An  all-consuming  love  of 
human  infancy  came  over  him,  it  was  a  kind  of 
possession  or  worship,  as  if  every  child  were  a 
Christ-child,  and  he  repeating  the  adoration  of 
the  Wise  Men  of  the  East,  not  toward  the  one, 
but  to  ward  all,  as  children  of  God. 

Such  a  paradisaical  life  old  and  young  were 
leading  in  Marienthal  during  these  days  —  a  re- 


THE  KINDER9AEDEN  PROPAGATED.       417 

turn  to  the  childhood  of  the  race,  to  Eden.  Yet 
the  purpose  of  this  going  back  was  to  go  forward, 
to  give  the  training  for  the  task  of  the  present 
in  its  very  germ.  Besides  this  environment  of 
little  faces  reflecting  his  joy,  Froebel  was  sur- 
rounded by  pupils  who  were  becoming  imbued 
with  his  doctrine  and  spirit.  Moreover  the  two 
devoted  women  were  present,  the  Baroness  and 
Luise  Levin,  each  of  whom  in  her  own  way  was 
a  living  counterpart  of  himself,  and  mirrored 
back  to  him  the  highest  realization  of  his  talents. 
Then  the  third  one,  the  man  of  this  inner  circle 
of  discipleship,  would  come  over  from  Keilnau 
now  and  then,  and  add  the  unique  rich  tones  of 
his  musical  life  to  the  harmonies  of  the  Marien- 
thal  choir. 

But  Marienthal  cannot  keep  all  its  happiness 
to  itself,  that  were  indeed  a  kind  of  selfishness. 
It  must  impart  the  good  it  possesses  in  order  to 
possess  the  same  completely.  Accordingly,  Froe- 
bel plans  a  grand  festival,  a  play-festival  for  all 
the  children  in  the  schools  of  the  neighboring 
villages.  He  secured  spacious  grounds  in  front 
of  the  castle  Altenstein,  where  the  Duke  resided, 
an  elevated  place  mid  delightful  scenery.  More 
than  a  year  he  labored  at  the  scheme ;  he  visited 
teachers,  roused  their  interest  and  co-operation, 
stirred  up  the  parents.  At  last  he  brings 
together  more  than  300  children  from  five  towns, 
led  by  some  25  teachers  and  assistants.  A 

27 


418  THE    LIFE    OF    FEOEBEL. 

great  day  for  that  whole  region ;  the  humble 
peasant  turns  out  as  well  as  the  aristocratic  guest 
from  Bath  Liebenstein.  Even  the  Duke  and 
Duchess  with  their  little  daughter  are  present. 

Of  this  small  army  of  little  ones  Froebel  was 
generalissimo,  directing  its  movements  with  a 
military  precision  which  was  suggested  by  his 
soldier-life ;  Middendorf ,  coming  over  from  Keil- 
hau  and  helping  him  make  everything  fit  harmoni- 
ously, was  second  in  command.  Thus  the  two 
aged  veterans  had  another  campaign  together, 
which  was  to  be  their  last.  From  the  War  of 
Liberation  (1813)  they  had  been  fellow-soldiers 
in  a  common  cause  for  nearly  forty  years,  and 
had  been  fighting  a  foe  even  greater  than 
Napoleon. 

The  five  columns  from  the  five  different  towns 
met  at  a  common  place,  and  entered  the  grounds 
which  were  in  the  form  of  a  large  square,  inside 
of  which  square  were  eight  different  circles  of 
children,  one  within  the  other.  Thus  we  behold 
the  play-rings  of  the  kindergarden  magnified  and 
transferred  from  the  school-room  to  the  open  air, 
in  which  fact  we  may  see  a  vast  new  application 
of  Froebel's  idea.  The  world  is  to  be  kinder- 
gar  denized. 

Over  the  entrance  was  the  motto  festooned  in 
flowers  and  oak-leaves :  ' '  Deep  meaning  often 
lies  in  children's  play."  These  same  words, 
taken  from  Schiller,  are  the  motto  for  Froebel' s 


TEE  KINDEEGAEDEN  PEOPAGATED.       419 

book  of  Mother  Play-songs,  wherein  we  may 
again  see  the  connection  between  this  play -festival 
and  the  kmdergarden.  Every  person,  therefore, 
who  entered  the  inclosure,  was  reminded  at  the 
start  that  this  play  was  not  capricious  or  merely 
for  recreation,  but  was  educative,  having  a  pro- 
found significance.  It  was  to  be  free,  happy, 
spontaneous,  yet  ordered,  with  an  inner  meaning, 
in  its  way  giving  a  lesson. 

The  evolutions  began,  the  marching  and  wheel- 
ing in  many  a  twist  and  turn  and  combination, 
whereof  no  description  can  be  here  given.  Then 
many  games  were  played,  popular  sports  were  in- 
dulged in,  of  course  all  with  a  meaning.  It  was 
the  kindergarden  made  universal,  which  was 
thereby  seen  to  be  the  true  principle  of  a  grand 
folk-festival.  Froebel's  little  institution  had  burst 
its  bounds  and  was  streaming  out  over  the  adjacent 
country  with  the  ambition  to  take  possession  of 
the  amusements  of  the  people,  and  transfiguring 
them  into  the  kindergarden.  He  says  that  this 
festival  was  intended  to  be  a  picture  of  the  all- 
sided  unification  of  life.  Different  villages,  dif- 
ferent classes  of  society,  different  ages  came 
together  in  a  festival,  and  were  unified  by  ordered 
play.  The  circle  on  which  they  gathered  had 
this  meaning,  with  its  one  invisible  center,  and 
its  visible  rim  made  up  of  individuals,  each  of 
whom  was  a  unit  belonging  to  a  whole  which  both 
determined  them  and  was  determined  by  them. 


120  THE    LIFE    OF    FROEBEL. 

A  suggestive  image  it  was  of  man's  relation  in 
the  institutional  order  above  him  yet  in  him, 
which  the  child  here  plays  before  enacting  it  in 
life.  Thus  he  is  trained  to  what  may  be  called 
Institutional  Virtue,  the  essence  of  all  the  Virtues. 

Such  was  the  great  play-festival  of  Altenstein, 
a  very  important  act  of  Froebel's  life,  one  upon 
which  he  spent  much  time  and  thought,  and  one 
which  suggests  a  new  evolution  of  the  kindergar- 
den,  which  it  has  hardly  yet  entered  upon.  Strong 
objections  are  made  to  such  exhibitions  of  chil- 
dren, and  they  have  their  dangers.  Such  a  fes- 
tival, however,  cannot  well  cultivate  spectacular 
display  and  love  of  appearance;  as  Froebel  con- 
ceived it  and  carried  it  out,  it  has  an  ethical  end, 
the  very  highest,  that  Virtue  which  underlies  the 
whole  Social  Order.  (54) 

The  day  given  by  nature  was  very  beautiful, 
even  more  beautiful  was  the  day  given  by  man . 
When  the  declining  sun  announced  its  close,  the 
entire  body  went  back  to  the  first  meeting-place 
and  separated,  marching  thence  to  village  and  to 
home.  Out  of  the  bosom  of  the  family  each 
child  came  that  morning,  uniting  with  his  fellows 
for  the  high  festival,  which  played  just  this  act 
of  association  for  the  little  ones,  and  which,  when 
done,  was  followed  by  the  return  of  each  into 
the  bosom  of  the  family,  in  which  they  disap- 
peared from  the  public  view,  passing  back  into 
their  inner  world,  into  their  birth-place. 


THE  KINDEEGAEDEN  PROPAGATED.       421 

But  this  family,  this  inner  world  founded  on 
the  love  of  man  and  woman,  is  also  an  institu- 
tion and  must  be  celebrated ;  indeed,  it  is  to  have 
the  next  grand  festival  in  Marienthal,  to  which 
the  Altenstein  festival  may  be  deemed  the  happy 
prelude.  A  new  and  more  intense  celebration, 
that  of  the  heart  itself  in  its  supreme  joy,  we  are 
invited  to  witness,  and  of  course  shall  not  fail  to 
be  present. 

Again  the  festal  leader  and  deepest  participant 
is  Froebel  himself.  He  is  now  to  celebrate  the 
formation  of  the  family  by  marriage  with  Luise 
Levin.  The  center  and  inner  germ  of  all  unifi- 
cation of  life  is  to  be  brought  forth  and  made 
real  in  a  most  significant  deed,  around  which  will 
play  the  third  and  most  soulful  festival  of 
Marienthal.  This  step  is,  perhaps,  the  most 
characteristic  in  the  man's  whole  life,  and  has 
been  and  still  is  judged  very  diversely  even  by 
his  admirers,  some  of  whom,  having  come  to  this 
brink,  stop  aghast  and  take  a  hasty  look  over  the 
precipice,  then  shrink  back,  secretly  saying  to 
themselves:  "Thither  I  cannot  follow  thee." 
But  there  are  others,  and  not  by  any  means  the 
oldest  of  his  followers,  who  will  respond  to  the 
question,  "  What  do  you  think  of  it?  "  with 
sparkling  eyes  and  smiling  lips,  faltering  out  in 
a  soft  tone  of  voice:  "Better  an  old  man's 
darling  than  a  young  man's  slave." 

Already  the  reader  must  have  noted  in  both 


422  THE    LIFE    OF    FROEBEL. 

parties  the  signs  of  what  was  surely  coming. 
The  history  of  Luise  Levin  has  been  outlined  in 
a  previous  section :  how  she  dreamed  of  Froebel 
in  her  secluded  humble  life  at  Osterode  as  a  kind 
of  ideal  man,  how  at  last  she  succeeded  in  com- 
ing into  his  presence  and  serving  him  in  many 
little  ways  at  Keilhau,  how  she  became  a  kinder- 
gardner  filled  with  his  play-spirit,  how  in  fine  she 
won  the  love  of  the  old  man  and  transformed  his 
life,  supporting  him  sympathetically  in  his  work 
and  smoothing  for  the  weary  wanderer  a  pillow 
of  rest  in  a  home.  The  time  has  come  when 
these  two  souls,  already  united  in  love,  must  take 
the  vow  before  the  world  and  celebrate  in  a  happy 
festival  their  life's  unification. 

Not  one  of  Froebel' s  direct  kindred  could  be 
called  a  follower  of  his,  he  had  no  disciple  bear- 
ing the  name  Froebel ;  he  was  going  to  give  it  to 
that  person  who  above  all  others  deserved  it,  and 
who  might  be  able  to  perpetuate  it  for  many  years 
to  come  —  which  event  actually  happened.  All 
Keilhau  was  estranged  except  Middendorf ,  the 
women  there  would  not  even  visit  Marienthal. 
Those  nephews  whom  he  educated  had  a  still 
deeper  hostility.  None  of  his  family,  therefore, 
can  be  heirs  of  his  work  and  propagators  of  the 
Idea.  All  this  he  was  going  to  transmit  along 
with  his  name  to  another,  to  a  woman  whom  he 
knew  to  be  love  and  loyalty  incarnate. 

Nor  must  it  be  thought  that  this  was    merely 


THE  KINDERGARDEN  PROPAGATED.       423 

the  case  of  an  old  man  who  married  a  young 
woman  that  she  might  take  care  of  him.  Luise 
Levin  was  indeed  an  excellent  housekeeper  —  a 
matter  not  altogether  to  be  overlooked  by  any 
man,  young  or  old,  in  taking  a  wife;  still  higher 
she  stood  as  a  supreme  home-maker ;  highest  of 
all,  she  was  his  spiritual  co-worker  and  helpmate 
in  all  his  labors,  especially  possessing  a  play^soul 
adapted  to  the  very  essence  of  his  task.  And 
Froebel,  according  to  eye-witnesses,  did  not  seem 
old ;  marvelous  vigor  of  body  and  mind  he  still 
had,  visible  in  the  amount  of  his  daily  work.  By 
nature  as  well  as  by  vocation  he  had  the  spirit  of 
eternal  youth,  even  in  itsgayety;  ever  playing 
with  children  in  childlike  ways,  he  remained  as  a 
child.  In  fact,  how  could  he  help  staying  young, 
daily  quaffing  of  the  fountain  of  rejuvenescence, 
the  veritable  El  Dorado,  the  kindergarden? 

Froebel  had  imparted  the  coming  event  to  his 
two  friends  at  Bath  Liebenstein,  Diesterweg  and 
the  Baroness.  Says  the  latter:  "Both  of  us 
could  only  agree  with  him  in  his  purpose.  We 
rejoiced  that  he  was  to  have  somebody  to  look 
after  him  in  old  age.  His  robustness,  which  still 
supplied  him  with  a  power  of  restless  activity, 
made  the  thought  of  a  second  marriage  appear 
less  surprising ;  nobody  would  have  taken  him 
to  be  68  years  old  at  that  time."  Herein  he 
has  been  compared  to  his  countryman,  the  poet 
Goethe,  who  at  a  more  advanced  age  than  that  of 


424  THE    LIFE    OF   F  ROE  BEL. 

Froebel,  was  still  deeply  susceptible  to  woman's 
love.  Undying  youth  and  freshness  of  spirit 
belonged  to  both,  for  the  one  was  a  poet  and  the 
other  a  kindergardner,  both  having  a  creative 
power  to  the  last,  and  hence  self -creative. 

In  July,  1851,  the  wedding  took  place,  the 
supreme  act  of  "all-sided  unification  of  life." 
In  the  presence  of  pupils  and  guests,  the  cere- 
mony was  performed  by  the  pastor  of  the  neigh- 
boring village  of  Schweina.  Standing  up  with 
the  couple  was  another  couple,  Middendorf  and 
the  Baroness,  who  had  ta.ken  the  part  of  grooms- 
man and  bridesmaid.  Thus  the  inner  circle  of 
Froebel' s  disciples  was  there  around  him,  and  in 
one  sense  they  were  all  married  on  that  day  — 
married  to  his  Idea.  Froebel  with  his  three  be- 
loved, most  faithful  followers,  one  of  whom  was 
his  spouse,  participated  in  this  marriage,  which 
was  a  kind  of  apostolic  consecration. 

Then  the  festivity  broke  loose  wildly  in  that 
hall,  which  was  festooned  with  all  sorts  of  flow- 
ery emblems.  Poems,  allegories,  plays,  poured 
forth;  then  came  song  and  dance.  Both  the  old 
boys,  Froebel  and  Middendorf,  danced  with  the 
bride,  and  with  all  the  fair  damsels,  the  kinder- 
gardners,  to  whom  these  teachers  gave  an  unusual 
lesson.  Why  not?  Had  not  the  two  men  been 
playing  with  the  children  for  many  years  ?  Mid- 
dendorf was  the  favorite  whom  the  young  ladies 
adored  "  as  a  God."  The  testimony  has  been 


THE  KINDERGARDEN  PROPAGATED.       425 

handed  down  that  « '  he  stood  nearer  to  us  girls 
than  Froebel  himself."  In  his  most  radiant 
mood  we  have  to  picture  Middendorf  with  his 
swimming  blue  eyes  and  fluffy  mane  of  hair  un- 
dulating with  his  body  in  the  dance,  whom  all 
men  admired,  and  all  women  loved  at  first  sight, 
but  who  had  for  himself  one  only  idol,  one  single 
object  of  love  and  adoration,  and  that  was 
Froebel. 

And  it  must  be  recorded  that  the  baby  also  ap- 
peared in  that  household,  notFroebel's,  but  baby 
Opitz.  A  happy  day  it  was  when  a  young  widow 
of  this  name  arrived  at  Marienthal  with  her  little 
suckling  barely  nine  months  old,  and  applied  to 
receive  instruction  for  the  sake  of  her  infant  boy, 
as  well  as  for  the  purpose  of  gaining  a  liveli- 
hood most  consonant  with  her  maternal  nature. 
Froebel,  gazing  into  the  eyes  of  the  little  fellow, 
said :  ' '  Yes,  I  shall  take  you,  Madam,  on  one  con- 
sideration: you  must  bring  that  child  with  you." 
Great  was  his  delight  to  have  such  a  youngster 
in  his  household,  now  it  was  complete.  Over  the 
reception  of  this  infant  there  had  to  be  another 
festival,  yet  another  festival.  Middendorf  hap- 
pened to  be  present  just  at, this  time  —  he  always 
seems  to  appear  at  Froebel' s  side  when  prayed 
for  —  and  he  poured  himself  out  in  a  poetical 
effusion  which  echoed  his  friend's  happiness  from 
his  own  musical  soul.  Froebel  took  the  infant 
from  the  arms  of  its  mother,  flung  it  up  into  the 


426  THE    LIFE    OF   FEOEBEL. 

air,  hugged  it  and  kissed  it,  as  St.  Anthony  did 
the  Christ-child,  while  his  pupils  festooned  all 
three,  mother,  child,  and  Froebel,  with  chains  of 
roses,  chanting  at  the  same  time  the  poem  by 
Middendorf. 

Such  was  the  festival  called  forth  by  the  arri- 
val of  baby  Opitz  in  the  household  of  Marien- 
thal:  truly  a  symbolic  affair.  But  at  another 
time  Froebel  had  to  say  to  his  wife :  ' '  My 
thoughts  are  my  children,  cherish  them." 

Thus  runs  the  joyous  stream  of  festivals 
through  this  year,  certainly  the  Happy  Year  of 
Froebel' s  checkered  life.  The  grand  culmination 
was  in  this  marriage,  with  Luise  Levin  as  bride, 
with  the  Baroness  as  bridesmaid  and  Middendorf 
as  groomsman.  One  cannot  help  thinking  that 
Madam  Middendorf  had  some  reason  to  be  jeal- 
ous of  Froebel,  so  completely  did  the  latter  hold 
the  keys  of  her  husband's  heart,  and  turn  them 
too.  Middendorf,  the  middle  man  and  mediator 
of  the  world  with  his  beloved  Froebel,  reconcil- 
ing present  and  turning  away  future  trouble  from 
his  friend.  He  comes  to  the  Baroness  and 
whispers  to  her :  if  any  discord  threatens  these 
festal  days  approaching,  help  me  keep  it  off. 
Evidently  he  feared  that  some  harsh  note  from 
Keilhau  might  drop  down  upon  Froebel  and  in- 
terrupt the  joy.  He  was  the  sole  representative 
from  Keilhau,  for  he  could  not  remain  away,  and 
got  married  himself  in  the  marriage  of  Froebel. 


THE  KINDERGARDEN  PROPAGATED.       427 

Through  this  step,  however,  the  rent  between 
uncle  Frederick  and  the  Keilhau  women  became 
deeper.  So  he  was  estranged  from  his  nieces, 
the  Froebel  girls,  daughters  of  his  brother  Chris- 
tian, by  this  his  second  marriage,  as  he  was  es- 
tranged by  his  first  marriage  from  his  nephews, 
sons  of  his  brother  Christoph,  the  Froebel  boys. 
Thus  it  came  about  that  the  old  man  was  destined 
to  end  his  days  in  complete  alienation  from  his 
kindred.  It  is  pathetic  to  learn  that  his  elder 
brother,  Christian  Froebel,  who  thirty  years  be- 
fore had  given  up  home  and  fortune  to  the  young 
school  of  Frederick,  was  still  alive  at  Keilhau, 
though  we  hear  nothing  of  him  during  these 
festal  days  of  his  brother,  now  an  old  man  also. 

So  the  conscientious  biographer  has  to  note 
down  with  an  unwilling  hand  that  "  the  all-sided 
unification  of  life  ' '  has  still  a  side  not  yet  unified 
even  during  the  Happy  Year  of  Marienthal. 
Such  is  the  finitude  lurking  in  all  human  effort, 
alack-a-day !  The  limit  appears  somewhere,  the 
widest  horizon  hath  still  a  bound,  yea,  perchance 
a  little  storm-cloud  gathering  in  the  distance,  not 
larger  than  your  hand,  and  slowly  bearing  down 
this  way. 

Still  it  has  been  a  great  and  glorious  year  for 
Froebel ,  and  the  sympathetic  reader  of  his  varied 
career  will  love  to  dwell  upon  it  as  the  sunniest 
spot  of  all  his  days,  as  the  untroubled  period 
when  the  hard  fates  of  existence  seemed  to  have 


428  THE  LIFE    OF  FEOEBEL. 

relaxed   their  grip  on  his  life-thread,  softening 
perchance  into  reverence  for  his  age. 

So  we  may  let  the  little  discord  with  Keilhau 
pass  as  a  small  cloud-rack  floating  in  the  sunlit 
welkin.  But  something  dark  and  troublous  rises 
up  from  the  past  destinies  of  this  life  of  Froebel, 
a  kind  of  foreboding  which  utters  itself  anxiously 
in  the  question:  Will  that  Nemesis  of  the  Deed, 
hitherto  so  remorseless  in  its  pursuit,  spare  the 
aged  man  in  the  top  of  this  last  joy  of  his?  Let 
us  see. 

VII. 

The  Final   Blow. 

Of  all  the  Prussian  Ministers  of  Education, 
the  one  most  distinguished,  the  one  whose  fame 
is  destined  to  be  carried  over  the  entire  world 
and  transmitted  down  Time  to  the  remotest  gen- 
erations, bears  the  name  of  Von  Raumer.  This 
celebrity  which  he  has  obtained,  and  is  fated  still 
further  to  obtain,  springs  from  one  seemingly 
small  act  of  his,  the  nature  of  which  is  seen  in  a 
ministerial  decree  issued  by  him  under  the  date 
of  August  7th,  1851,  of  which  the  following 
extract  gives  the  purport :  — 

"  Whereas  it  appears  by  a  pamphlet  written 
by  Carl  Froebel,  entitled,  High  Schools  .for 
Young  Ladies  and  Kindergardens,  that  kinder- 
gardens  form  a  part  of  the  Froebelian  socialistic 
system,  which  is  calculated  to  train  the  youth  of 


THE  KINDER&ABDEN  PROPAGATED.       429 

the  country  to  atheism,  such  schools  and  kinder- 
gardens  cannot  be  suffered  to  exist." 

Here  rises  again  that  Goddess  of  Confusion 
once  so  active  at  Hamburg,  but  whom  we  imag- 
ined to  have  been  left  behind  forever  when  we 
fled  from  that  city  to  Liebenstein,  the  Eock  of 
Love.  Is  she,  then,  following  us  hither,  aided 
by  the  dark  Powers  of  the  Air?  At  any  rate 
she  has  gotten  the  ear  of  a  Prussian  minister, 
who,  in  strange  obedience  to  her  promptings,  has 
sent  forth  the  above  edict. 

Such  was  the  blow  which  seemed  to  fall  from 
the  clear  sky  upon  the  happy  innocent  circle  at 
Marienthal,  performing  its  simple  task  in  obscure 
paradisaical  harmony.  The  most  powerful,  the 
most  enlightened  state  in  Germany,  doubled  up 
its  giant  fist,  and  certainly  without  adequate 
provocation,  smote  the  old  man,  harmlessly 
dwelling  in  his  Eden,  giving  up  his  aged  days 
to  playing  with  little  children,  and  teaching 
others  to  play  with  them. 

Even  in  aristocratic  circles  the  decree  created 
surprise  and  disapproval.  The  Baroness  has 
given  a  dramatic  account  of  the  way  in  which 
the  news  was  received  by  the  ducal  family  of 
Meiningen.  After  dinner,  at  which  she  was  a 
guest,  the  Duke  stepped  up  to  her  with  news- 
paper in  hand,  and  said:  "  The  Froebelian  kin- 
dergardens  are  forbidden  in  Prussia."  The 
Baroness  thought  he  was  jesting.  But  he  handed 


433  THE    LIFE    OF    FROEBEL. 

her  the  paper  and  said,  "  Read."  Sure  enough, 
there  stood  the  decree.  The  high  personages 
present  were  all  taken  aback ;  they  agreed  that 
there  must  be  some  mistake  somewhere;  to 
prohibit  children's  games  as  dangerous  to 
society  seemed  not  quite  reasonable.  A  mistake, 
a  mistake,  thought  the  Baroness,  let  us  try  at 
once  to  correct  it,  and  so  she  hastened  to 
Froebel,  who  had  already  heard  the  news. 

The  confusion  between  the  two  Froebels ,  Carl 
and  Frederick,  was  manifest  in  the  words  of  the 
decree  itself.  The  Hamburg  conflict  with  its 
secret  hate  had  passed  to  Berlin  and  had  there 
begotten  a  monstrous  offspring,  which  turned 
and  smote  both  contestants,  the  nephew  and  the 
uncle.  The  old  fatal  thread  of  retribution  spun  of 
the  deeds  of  the  Froebel  Family  was  woven  into 
the  interdict  of  the  Prussian  Minister,  through 
whom  the  nephew  again  brings  home  vengeance 
upon  the  uncle,  though  calling  the  same  blow 
down  upon  his  own  head. 

Thus  we  must  trace  the  interior  leading-string 
which  directed  this  crushing  trip-hammer  stroke, 
to  the  Hamburg  feud,  which,  however,  has  its 
deep-seated  source  further  back  in  that  ancient 
Nemesis  working  in  the  blood  of  the  Family 
Froebel.  Strong,  yea,  bitter  opposition  Fred- 
erick Froebel  always  showed  to  the  Female  Uni- 
versity of  his  nephew,  yet  the  latter  helps  forge 
the  thunderbolt  against  him.  Then  his  inno- 


THE  KINDEKGARDEN  PROPAGATED.   431 

cent  kinder  garden,  through  the  nephew's  adop- 
tion of  it,  is  found  by  the  government  in 
such  bad  company  that  it  is  at  once  hustled  out 
of  the  world,  or  the  Prussian  part  thereof. 
Then  the  charge  of  propagating  socialism,  true 
of  Carl,  isw  untrue  of  Frederick,  but  it  strikes 
him  none  the  less.  But  the  blackest,  most  damna- 
ble falsehood  of  all  is  the  alleged  atheism  of 
Frederick  Froebel,  whose  deepest  trait  was  his 
religiosity,  of  whom  it  may  be  said  as  of  Spinoza, 
that  he  was  a  God-intoxicated  man. 

But  such  is  the  terrible  irony  of  Nemesis,  by 
whom  he  is  made  to  suffer  for  that  which  he  has 
not  done,  apparently  in  order  to  atone  for  that 
which  he  has  done.  For  in  a  little  dark  nook  of  his 
heart,  lurking  in  night,  lay  the  crouching  Furies, 
still  capable  of  being  roused  to  vengeance  in 
spite  of  deep  religious  convictions  and  a  devoted, 
yea,  a  holy  life.  Such  a  rent  garment  of  mortal- 
ity and  finitude  we  must  see  still  clinging  to  him 
and  tremble,  while  we  justify  the  ways  of  Provi- 
dence, who  puts  even  the  righteous  under  his 
discipline,  unto  the  one  supreme  end,  perfection, 

A  great  confusion  between  two  men  of  the 
same  name,  and  a  great  mistake  on  the  part  of 
the  Minister;  Froebel  thought  he  could  show 
this  confusion,  which  was  indeed  plain  enough, 
and  then  have  the  mistake  corrected  through  a 
rescinding  of  the  decree.  He  wrote  to  the  Min- 
ister, sending  proofs,  documents,  his  own  publi- 


432  THE    LIFE    OF    FBOEBEL. 

cations  during  a  long  life;  he  declared  his 
adhesion  to  Christianity,  he  proclaimed  his  oppo- 
sition to  the  plans  of  Carl  Froebel  —  all  with  no 
result.  The  .Minister  acknowledged  the  confu- 
sion of  names,  but  confirmed  with  fresh  emphasis 
the  interdict,  asserting  that  the  systems  of  both 
Froebels,  whatever  their  differences,  were  one  in 
their  hostility  to  Christianity. 

Thus  the  prayer  of  the  old  man  for  justice 
only  brought  down  a  second  heavy  blow  upon  his 
devoted  head.  Under  it  he  began  to  droop,  to 
show  a  sinking  within  himself  which  cast  a 
shadow  of  the  coming  end.  Then  his  aged 
frame  would  rise  to  moments  of  exaltation  and  of 
wonderful  rejuvenescence,  as  he  would  say:  "  I 
shall  go  to  America,  the  new  world,  where  is 
new  life,  where  the  new  education  of  the  human 
race  is  to  begin."  So  would  speak  the  bold 
youth  of  seventy  years,  looking  across  the  ocean 
to  a  land  whither  he  had  always  turned  his  eyes 
for  fresh  hope  in  days  of  despair.  Then  the 
fighting  mood  would  get  uppermost,  and  he 
would  break  out  in  a  kind  of  Berserker  fit  of  old 
Teutonic  war-rage :  4 '  I  want  struggle  for  my 
cause,  without  fight  the  truth  never  celebrates  a 
triumph.  No  silence,  no  skulking  in  the  rear !  ' 
Still,  in  spite  of  such  flashes,  there  was  a  mani- 
fest drooping,  a  slow  relaxing  of  the  grip, 
physical  and  mental,  a  gradual  letting  go  of  the 
earth. 


THE  KINDERGARDEN  PROPAGATED.       433 

Now  for  the  work  of  the  Baroness  in  this  criti- 
cal period.  With  all  her  skill  and  energy  she 
set  about  having  the  obnoxious  decree  withdrawn, 
or  if  not  withdrawn,  ,  circumvented.  Heroic 
courage  and  apostleship  she  shows,  she,  of  noble 
birth,  a  court  lady  and  knowing  the  way  of 
courts,  yet  giving  herself  unreservedly  to  right 
the  wrong  done  to  an  humble,  unoffending  man 
whose  cause  she  has  espoused.  She  goes  to  Ber- 
lin, she  pleads  with  people  of  influence,  official, 
aristocratic,  yea,  royal;  she  even  has  an  interview 
with  the  terrible  inquisitor,  Von  Raumer  himself, 
at  whose  blind  fanaticism  she  is  horrified.  When 
she  is  repulsed  by  the  mighty  heresy-hunter  who 
discovered  atheism  in  little  children's  games,  she 
resolves  to  reach  out  beyond  and  behind  him,  to 
the  King  of  Prussia  himself.  There  was  a  re- 
ception given  by  the  Queen,  at  which  the  King  was 
present;  up  steps  the  Baroness  with  a  document 
in  her  hand,  which  she  presents  to  him  :  it  is  Froe- 
b'el's  petition  for  an  investigation.  The  King  re- 
ceives it  with  a  friendly,  that  is,  diplomatic  smile, 
but  the  whole  thing  comes  to  naught.  Still  she 
works  and  pleads  and  proselytizes  and  button- 
holes all  Berlin  —  a  most  persistent,  lion-hearted 
woman,  importunate,  putting  to  flight  many  a 
man  during  these  days  when  she  but  appeared. 
Malice  sped  its  shaft  against  her  too,  though  she 
defied  it,  charging  her  with  being  a  red-hot  revo- 
lutionist in  her  heart,  and  even  an  atheist.  But 


434  THE    LIFE    OF    FEOEBEL. 

what  of  it?  True  to  her  vow  of  discipleship 
she  is  going  to  remain,  though  she  is  getting  a 
foretaste  of  martyrdom. 

Still  of  no  avail  is  her  effort ;  she  hears  the 
final  word  of  the  Minister,  which  has  in  it  the 
sound  o'f  anger  and  of  brute  force:  "I  shall 
never  permit  the  establishment  of  Froebelian 
kindergardens. " 

"  But  you  cannot  hinder  families  from  em- 
ploying Froebel's  play-materials  for  their  young 
children?" 

"  Therein  we  have  no  power,"  said  the  Minis- 
ter. 

"  Then  we  shall  show  you  the  unrighteousness 
of  your  judgment,"  answered  the  bold  Baroness 
to  the  official  mouth-piece  of  the  Prussian  State. 
Behind  the  Minister,  behind  the  King,  behind 
the  State,  she  is  going  to  go,  and  reach  down 
into  the  Family,  the  foundation  of  all  institu- 
tions, and  there  plant  the  kindergarden. 

Heroic  is  her  act  of  valor,  especially  in  bureau- 
cratic Germany,  with  its  vast  horde  of  official- 
dom by  nature  truckling  to  the  powerful  and 
tyrannical  to  the  powerless.  Forth  she  goes  and 
establishes  a  family  kindergarden,  and  calls  one 
of  Froebel's  trained  kindergardners  to  take  charge 
of  it,  in  the  very  face  of  the  Minister's  prohibi- 
tion. Thus  she  opens  her  campaign,  and  to 
stand  back  of  her  with  succor  she  founds  a  kin- 
dergarden association  at  Berlin.  Nor  did  she 


THE  KINDER  GAR  DEN1  PROPAGATED        435 

remit  her  efforts  with  the  authorities  for  the  res- 
cinding of  the  fateful  decree.  At  last,  in  the 
year  1860,  the  Minister  of  the  "  New  Era" 
comes  into  office,  and  removes  the  prohibition, 
which  act  is  chiefly  to  be  ascribed  to  her  efforts. 
But  Froebel  had  lain  in  the  grave  eight  years 
before  this  reparation  took  place. 

Thus  the  Baroness  with  heart-stirring  courage 
has  proven  her  discipleship.  She  has  stood  the 
test  of  fire  and  crucifixion,  showing  her  adaman- 
tine fidelity  to  Froebel  and  his  cause.  She  has 
written  in  shining  letters  her  deed,  which  tells 
what  she  meant  when  she  said  she  could  endure 
censure  and  scorn,  could  be  torn  to  pieces  and 
burnt  at  the  stake,  if  the  call  should  come  for 
such  a  sacrifice.  And  a  strong  prelude  of  such  a 
call  has  come  in  this  recent  experience,  a  prelude 
like  the  sound  of  a  trumpet.  She  has  proven 
the  might  of  her  faith,  she  has  fulfilled  her 
vow  of  consecration  which  she  once  took  in  the 
presence  of  the  master  himself. 

Such  was  the  famous  Prussian  decree  against 
the  Froebelian  kindergarden,  a  kind  of  medieval 
Papal  ban  of  interdict  and  excommunication, 
though  issued  by  a  modern  Protestant  State. 
Yet,  as  is  usual  in  such  cases,  it  worked  both 
ways,  showing  something  of  the  nature  of  a  boom- 
erang. Testimony  began  to  flow  in  from  every 
direction  to  the  merit  of  the  work  and  its  author. 
Many  teachers  praised  it,  headed  by  Diesterweg, 


436  THE    LIFE    OF    F ROE  BEL. 

the  greatest  of  them  all.  Parents  bore  witness 
to  its  excellence.  Liberals  adopted  it  into  their 
program  of  education;  yea,  the  radicals,  the  real 
revolutionists,  became  its  active  supporters,  just 
because  it  was  suppressed  by  the  reactionary 
government,  though  Froebel  had  little  in  common 
with  them.  Then  it  took  wings  and  flew  to  all 
free  countries,  to  England,  to  distant  America, 
that  it,  in  the  ftillness  of  time,  unfold  unhamp- 
ered to  its  complete  stature.  The  Berlin  comic 
paper,  the  If  ladder  datsch^  helped  with  its  ironical 
fun,  pointing  out  as  objects  of  suspicion  those 
three-year-old  demagogues  with  their  inflamma- 
tory speeches,  those  red-handed  revolutionists  in 
swaddling  clothes. 

So  it  came  to  pass  that  the  kindergarden,  in 
spite  of  its  author's  quiet  and  retired  activity, 
was  whirled  out  of  its  secluded  nook  into  the  sea 
of  politics ;  it  became  a  national  question  and  a 
party  shibboleth.  Chiefly  it  divided  the  school- 
people  of  Germany  and  does  so  to  this  day. 
The  Twentieth  Century  is  here,  and  we  still  read 
of  fierce  attacks  on  the  kindergarden  in  the  assem- 
blages of  German  pedagogues  followed  by  hot 
defense,  spoken  and  printed. 

Very  striking  in  this  story  is  the  contrast  be- 
tween what  is  small  but  everlasting,  and  what  is 
big  but  ephemeral.  The  great  events  and  great 
men  of  great  Berlin,  great  at  that  time,  are  now 
fast  ebbing  in  ever-diminishing  ripples  toward 


THE   KINDEEGARDEN  PEOPAGATED.       437 

the  shores  of  oblivion.  But  that  little  rural 
point  at  Marienthal  where  Froebel  began  playing 
children's  games  with  barefoot  peasant  boys, 
has  given  rise  to  a  vast  ever-increasing  tidal- wave 
which  already  encompasses  the  earth.  Something 
eternal,  surely,  lies  in  the  man,  something  God- 
like is  working  in  -these  seemingly  little,  insig- 
nificant acts  of  his,  which  are  thus  symbols  of 
him,  reflecting  strangely  his  own  symbolic  doc- 
trine in  his  life.  An  original  divine  germ  lurks 
in  his  work,  which  is  to  be  fed  and  fostered  to 
its  full  growth  by  all  time  and  the  whole  world. 
Still,  we  must  not  forget  the  mortal,  finite 
element,  which  is  mingled  with  and  winds  through 
his  earthly  career  —  the  ominous  fatal  thread 
which  we  have  seen  spinning  itself  into  the  very 
texture  of  Froebel' s  terrestrial  existence.  In 
the  happiest  moment  of  his  life  the  ancient 
curse  is  secretly  at  work,  the  Furies  of  the 
Family  Froebel  have  in  hand  and  are  raising 
over  his  head  the  iron  sledge  of  Fate.  The 
blow  of  Prussia  reaches  back  to  Carl  Froebel, 
from  Carl  Froebel  to  his  mother,  and  from  his 
mother  to  that  one  deed  of  Frederick  Froebel, 
which  in  a  subtle,  tortuous,  hidden  path,  winds 
down  through  many  years  and  many  persons  and 
smites  with  its  Nemesis  the  doer  in  the  very 
consummation  of  his  bliss,  in  the  very  midst  of 
his  honeymoon,  not  a  month  after  his  marriage. 
We  have  not  forgotten  that  something  quite  sim- 


438  THE    LIFE    OF   FEOEBEL. 

ilar  happened  just  after  the  double  wedding  which 
was  the  flowering  of  Keilhau. 

But,  old  man !  often  before  hast  thou  been 
stricken  to  earth,  yet  thou  hast  always  risen 
again  to  thy  feet,  and  defied  all  the  Fates  and 
Furies  of  existence  to  the  uttermost,  doing  thine 
allotted  human  task  in  spite  of  the  Nemesis  of 
ev.en  thine  own  act.  Up  again,  and  at  them  as  of 
vore,  though  thine  aged  frame  totters  to  its  fall! 
Thou  hast  still  the  god-like  stuff  in  thee  to  rise 
under  this  last  and  heaviest  stroke  descending 
even  from  thine  own  wrong ;  thou  art  greater 
than  any  limit  put  upon  thee  by  thine  own  deed, 
and  canst  surely  mount  above  it  to  a  new  tri- 
umphal entry  into  the  paradise  of  thy  supreme 
freedom.  Up,  cry  the  angels  in  Heaven;  once 
more  rise  to  thy  feet,  and  prepare  to  come  to  us, 
for  this  is  thy  last  and  sorest  trial. 

VIII. 

Last  Days  of  Froebel. 

Valiantly  the  gray-haired  veteran  stood  up 
under  the  repeated  strokes  of  his  -foes,  and  set 
himself  to  meet  their  charges.  Assistance  and 
appreciation  began  to  come  to  him  as  never  be- 
fore, so  that  he  could  begin  to  see  the  ultimate 
triumph  of  his  cause.  The  next  month  after  the 
decree  a  Teachers'  Assembly  was  held  at  Lie  ben- 
stein  (Sept.  27-9,  1851),  and  gave  the  highest 


THE  KINDERGARDEN  PROPAGATED.       439 

recognition  to  his  work.  The  means  for  its 
propagation  were  discussed,  and  a  declaration  in 
its  favor  was  addressed  to  the  pedagogical  world. 
Diesterweg  was  in  the  chair,  distinguished  men 
bore  testimony  to  the  merit  of  the  kindergarden, 
the  whole  meeting  became  a  kind  of  Froebelian 
love-feast.  Froebel  himself  was  present,  and 
was  the  center  of  interest ;  he  gave  an  address 
upon  his  educational  labors,  with  his  old  fire  and 
energy,  producing  a  deep  impression  and  calling 
forth  universal  applause.  Wounded  but  by  no 
means  out  of  the  fight,  the  aged  war-horse  had 
again  sprung  to  his  feet,  and  he  showed  his 
ancient  mettle  by  another  dash  at  the  enemy,  the 
sons  of  darkness. 

Full  of  fresh  hope  and  desire  for  work  Froebel 
still  was,  as  we  see  by  the  following  promises 
which  he  proposed  at  once  to  set  about  fulfilling. 
First,  he  would  write  a  compendium  or  text-book 
for  kindergardners ;  second,  he  would  again  es- 
tablish a  periodical  for  advocating  the  cause. 
The  latter  came  to  light  in  the  Zeitschrift,  edited 
by  Director  Marquart  of  Dresden;  but  the 
former  was  never  written,  seemingly  never 
begun. 

This  was  a  misfortune,  the  effects  of  which 
are  experienced  to  this  day  in  the  training  of  kin- 
dergardners. Already  during  Froebel' s  life  the 
need  had  been  felt  of  having  some  definite  and 
complete  statement  of  the  system  as  a  whole. 


440  THE    LIFE    OF   FROEBEL. 

The  Teachers'  Assembly  had  voiced  this  need, 
and  Froebel  had  consented  to  do  the  work.  But 
he  wanted  to  have  the  help  of  Middendorf ,  who 
could  not  at  that  time  be  spared  from  Keilhau. 
And  the  Keilhau  people  probably  thought  that 
the  result  would  be  only  another  unsalable  book, 
like  the  Education  of  Man  or  the  Mother  Play- 
songs.  Middendorf  himself  did  not  feel  free 
to  make  the  sacrifice  just  then,  as  he  had  so 
often  done  before  at  the  call  of  his  friend.  He 
probably  thought,  too,  that  there  was  still  time 
enough,  as  Froebel  seemed  so  vigorous. 

The  result  of  the  delay  has  been  that  no  kin- 
dergarden  manual  or  compendium,  giving  a  com- 
plete and  connected  survey  of  the  system  in  its 
totality,  has  come  down  from  Froebel.  Slight 
sketches  do,  indeed,  exist,  but  these  are  confes- 
sedly imperfect.  Froebel' s  writings  on  the  kinder- 
garden  are  a  disconnected  mass  of  lectures, 
essays,  conversations,  letters,  articles  for  news- 
papers, all  of  which  were  written  piecemeal  and 
in  a  hurry,  and  extend  through  a  period  of  fifteen 
years,  during  which  time  he  was  testing,  chang- 
ing, unfolding  his  work  and  his  thought.  Hence 
inconsistencies,  contradictions,  obscurities  and 
repetitions  abound  in  them,  and  there  is  no  doubt 
that  they  need  a  careful,  critical  overhauling  and 
ordering,  which  ought  also  to  show  the  historic 
genesis  of  the  system  from  its  first  early  stage  to 
the  latest  ripened  product.  The  manuals  which 


THE  KINDEEGAEDEN  PROPAGATED.       441 

we  know,  sprang  up  after  Froebel,  and  have 
their  history  also. 

Still  Froebel  had  given  his  training  to  a  good 
many  pupils,  who  have  handed  down  his  ideas 
and  his  manipulations  in  an  organic  order.  Thus 
they  have  kept  in  living  activity  the  kindergar- 
den  organism,  and  have  nourished  it  to  an  un- 
precedented growth.  To  this  day  there  is  a  sur- 
prising amount  of  tradition  in  the  kindergarden, 
most  of  which  seems  to  have  come  down  from 
Froebel  himself.  Such  was  the  greatness  of  the 
man :  he  could  build  an  institution,  which  would 
keep  on  growing  and  developing  long  after  his 
death,  with  the  outlook  of  becoming  truly  uni- 
versal and  embracing  the  whole  earth. 

In  spite  of  these  efforts  it  was  noticed  by  ob- 
serving friends  that  Froebel  had  spells  of  lassi- 
tude ;  he  could  not  hold  out  in  his  walks  as 
formerly,  he  had  often  to  stop  and  rest.  Then 
he  had  frequently  fits  of  silence,  even  in  the 
presence  of  argumentation,  which  was  a  marked 
contrast  to  his  previous  .indefatigable  talking- 
power.  Expressions  dropped  from  him  which 
indicated  that  he  deemed  his  life-work  done,  and 
had  only  to  look  back  upon  it  with  impartial 
calmness  and  resignation.  He  is  no  longer  im- 
patient at  the  slowness  of  the  time  in  accepting 
his  doctrine:  '*  Now  I  know  it  will  be  centuries 
before  my  view  of  the  human  being  as  child,  and 
the  education  corresponding  to  it  can  be  accepted. 


442  THE    LIFE    OF   FROEBEL. 

But  that  troubles  me  no  more."  He  had  sown 
his  seed,  the  future  will  reap  the  crop.  His 
striving  in  the  Present  is  drooping,  he  is  peace- 
fully looking  to  the  Beyond. 

The  winter  of  1851-2  he  passed  in  a  kind  of 
mild  serenity,  as  if  in  waiting  for  the  summons. 
Love  surrounded  the  old  man  with  its  watchful 
care  and  all-anticipating  devotion  —  love  of  wife 
and  pupils  and  friends.  He  lived  in  the  afternoon 
sheen  of  the  setting  sun,  that  luminary  of  which 
he  was  so  fond,  being  a  sort  of  sun-worshipper, 
as  Middendorf  implies  in  the  statement,  made 
after  Froebel's  death  to  the  Baroness :  "  He  had 
a  great  love  of  the  sun,  and  would  gaze  upon  its 
rising  and  setting  in  worshipful  contemplation : 
the  reason  why  I  always  forgot  to  ask  him." 

But  the  cold  weather  has  gone,  the  vernal 
breezes  have  again  come  to  Marienthal,  touching 
the  buds  and  kissing  the  hills,  whereat  a  new- 
born life  at  once  leaps  into  existence.  In  the 
very  heart  of  spring  lies  Froebel's  birth-day,  the 
21st  of  April;  thus  he^ began  life  in  the  full  cen- 
ter of  Nature's  productive  season,  and  seemingly 
partook  of  its  character  of  creativity,  which  he 
showed  in  his  work  and  carried  over  into  education. 
Moreover,  he  has  reached  the  Scriptural  limit 
of  life,  three  score  and  ten,  with  genius  still 
creative.  Surely  there  must  be  a  celebration  of 
the  event  at  Marienthal,  which  is  to  be  the  last 
grand  festivity  in  Froebel's  career.  Here  we  see 


THE  KINDERQARDEN  PROPAGATED.       443 

everywhere  the  hand  of  Middendorf  the  poet,  the 
friend,  the  adorer.  With  the  rising  sun  the 
pupils  break  forth  into  a  song  which  wakens 
Froebel  from  his  sleep.  Getting  up  and  dress- 
ing himself,  he  steps  forth  from  his  chamber 
into  the  Hall  of  Instruction,  standing  for  a< 
moment  in  surprise  and  joy  at  what  meets  his 
eye.  The  room  is  decked  with  flowers,  plants, 
wreaths,  richly  festooned  with  all  the  variegated 
paraphernalia  of  Flora  herself  in  her  gayest 
season.  Another  song  by  the  young  ladies,  his 
pupils,  dressed  in  white  festal  garments,  with 
green  garlands  on  their  heads,  salutes  the  ap- 
proaching hero,  verily  the  Sun  himself  of  this 
little  world,  who  is  really  the  original  of  it  all, 
the  primal  source  of  all  these  vernal  glories. 

Madam  Froebel  first  draws  near  to  him  with 
her  offering  of  flowers,  then  follow  the  pupils, 
the  blessed  maidens,  bearing  to  him  an  orange 
tree  with  leaves,  buds,  flowers  and  fruits  all 
shooting  together  out  of  one  living  trunk  - — 
truly  the  outer  visible  image  of  Froebel  himself, 
who  still  shows  all  the  periods  of  life,  childhood, 
youth,  manhood,  age. 

Then  behold  the  presents  spread  upon  the 
tables,  tokens  from  far  and  near,  with  congratu- 
lations by  the  bagful  -»-  the  postman  brings  in 
and  throws  down  a  bag  of  letters.  In  the  after- 
noon, kindergarden  children  come  in  processions 
from  the  neighboring  villages  and  throng  the 


444  -       THE    LIFE    OF    FROEBEL. 

house,  bringing  their  own  little  gifts  made  with 
their  own  little  hands  to  the  greatest  benefactor 
they  ever  had  in  this  world,  whose  principle  of 
life  was  just  to  live  for  them.  Singing  songs, 
reciting  poems,  playing  games,  they  wreathe  him 
,  around  in  a  festoon  made  of  his  own  kindergar- 
den,  and  one  of  them  at  the  close  places  a  green 
crown  upon  his  head.  Then  the  old  ever-young 
player  himself  springs  into  the  play-ring  and 
conducts  one  of  his  own  games,  as  if  the  ancient 
Sun  might  step  down  out  of  Heaven,  and  take 
part  in  one  of  his  own  Sun-dances  leading  the 
children  of  light. 

But  the  day  is  done,  the  Sun  is  setting,  the 
children  must  turn  homeward  now,  singing  their 
parting  song  to  their  life-bringing  luminary. 
The  festival  began  with  a  song  at  his  rising; 
such  is  the  melodious  beginning  and  end  of  this 
celebration,  reflecting  in  a  kind  of  solar  symbol- 
ism the  life  of  Froebel  from  sunrise  to  sunset. 

The  whole  is  the  work  of  Middendorf ,  and  is 
a  kind  of  Apotheosis  of  Froebel,  ere  the  latter 
goes  beyond.  The  songs  written  by  Middendorf 
breathe  love  and  reverence  reaching  up  quite  to 
the  point  of  adoration.  One  of  the  significant 
pictures  given  to  Froebel  during  the  festival  was 
a  print  of  Eaphael's  Madonna  and  Christ-child 
adored  by  the  boy  St.  John.  We  recall  the 
answer  of  Langethal  when  somebody  said  that 
Middendorf  was  a  St.  John  in  character:  "  Yes, 


THE  KINDERGABDEN  PROPAGATED.       445 

so  he  was,  and  Froebelwas  his  Christ."  Under- 
neath this  joyous  celebration  runs  a  deep  cur- 
rent of  religious  feeling,  like  that  of  a  happy 
Greek  festival  given  in  honor  of  some  Hero  or 
God,  and  overflowing  with,  hymns  and  dances  and 
games.  It  was  Middendorf 's  final  tribute  to  his 
living  friend,  and  unconsciously  to  himself  —  a 
dedicatory  offering  to  their  eternal  friendship, 
which,  as  we  shall  see,  Time  cannot  interrupt. 

Yet  the  spells  of  weariness  are  becoming 
longer  and  more  frequent  with  Froebel,  showing 
his  bodily  break.  Also  his  mental  break  begins 
to  make  itself  felt.  The  question  about  his 
religion  is  discussed  by  the  newspapers  in  a  way 
very  distasteful  to  him,  so  he  writes  a  declaration 
upon  the  subject,  which  is  suppressed  by  the  ad- 
vice of  the  Baroness,  supported  by  Middendorf 
and  Diesterweg.  But  he  is  almost  worn  out  by 
the  writing  of  this  document ;  says  the  Baroness  : 
"  He  could  no  longer  collect  his  thoughts,  as  for- 
merly, and  write  them  down  without  effort." 

Another  honor  awaited  Froebel  during  these 
days,  an  honor  which  must  be  recorded.  He  was 
invited  to  attend  the  National  Convention  of  Ger- 
man Teachers  at  Gotha.  He  declined  the  first 
invitation,  as  he  thought  the  presence  of  a  per- 
son who  had  been  placed  under  the  ban  of  the 
Prussian  Government  might  cause  discord.  But 
the  Convention  unanimously  passed  a  resolution 
inviting  him  the  second  time,  probably  for  the 


X 

OF   THK  '  >*    \ 

UNIVERSITY  \ 

V    bw      f 


446  THE    LIFE    OF    FEOEBEL. 

purpose  of  intimating  its  opinion  of  the  Prussian 
prohibition.  He  came,  and  when  he  entered  the 
hall,  the  entire  body  of  teachers,  though  in  the 
midst  of  their  regular  proceedings,  rose  in  honor 
of  the  man.  When  tfoe  business  in  hand  had 
ended,  the  president  gave  him  a  hearty  welcome 
which  was  followed  by  three  cheers.  He 
thanked  the  members,  and  then  spoke  on  the. 
subject  before  the  meeting  (instruction  in 
Natural  Science),  being  heard  with  the  greatest 
attention. 

Froebel  returned  from  the  Convention  to 
Marienthal  in  good  spirits.  Still  the  periodic 
attacks  of  weakness  kept  coming  oftener  and 
lasting  longer;  evidently  life  was  slowly  relax- 
ing its  grip,  though  he  still  maintained  "his 
hope  and  his  serenity.  On  the  6th  of  June 
came  the  spell  which  sent  him  to  bed  perma- 
nently ;  he  was  now  a  sick  man  for  the  first  and 
the  last  time.  Middendorf  hastened  to  him 
from  Hamburg,  also  Barop  came  from  Keilhau. 
With  the  aid  of  these  he  arranged  his  affairs  and 

o 

made  his  will.  Then  he  asked  for  his  god- 
parent's letter,  a  religious  document  which  he 
had  carefully  preserved,  and  which  he  now  de- 
sired to  be  read  to  him,  in  accord  with  an  old 
Thuringian  custom.  This  letter  he  called  his 
credentials  —  credentials  to  the  court  whither  he 
was  going. 

And  in  these  last  moments  he  did  not  forget 


THE  KINDERGARDEN  PROPAGATED.       447 

Keilhau,  the  estranged  —  how  could  he?  He  ex- 
horted the  family  there  to  show  itself  the  pattern 
of  domestic  concord,  to  be  an  example  of  "  life's 
unification."  He  noticed  the  absence  of  Dr. 
Schaifner,  who  had  married  Elise,  the  third  of 
the  Froebel  sisters,  in  1850.  The  Keilhau 
women,  his  nieces,  daughters  of  his  brother 
Christian,  were  all  absent,  and  we  hear  nothing 
of  that  brother  Christian,  still  alive,  whom  the 
Baroness  found  at  work  the  following  year,  do- 
ing cheerily  his  little  task  in  the  cellar  at  Keilhau . 

But,  chiefly,  the  matter  which  lay  nearest  to 
his  dying  heart,  yet  still  full  of  love,  must  rise 
to  speech  and  be  considered :  What  is  now  to  be- 
come of  the  dearest  one  on  earth,  my  wife,  left 
alone  without  help  or  money?  He  commended 
her  to  the  protection  of  Keilhau ;  Middendorf 
and  Barop  honestly  promised  and  intended  it, 
not,  however,  without  some  misgivings.  Alas, 
why? 

Many  of  his  last  thoughts  evidently  turned  to 
religion.  The  charge  of  atheism  contained  in 
the  ministerial  decree,  worried  him  to  the  close. 
To  his  physician  he  said:  "I  am  a  Christian 
man.'7  The  latter  replied:  "Nobody  doubts 
that."  He  was  getting  weaker,  weaker;  he 
could  barely  raise  to  his  lips  the  little  hand  of  a 
child  who  had  brought  him  some  flowers  and  a 
dove.  On  the  evening  of  June  21st,  1852,  he 
opened  his  eyes  for  the  last  time;  his  body 


448  THE   LIFE    OF   FROEBEL. 

was  almost  in  a  sitting  position,  conforming  to  a 
wish  of  his  that  he  might  meet  death  in  that 
way;  he  took  two  long  draughts  of  air,  when 
breathing  ceased. 

Says  Middendorf:  "The  close  of  Froebel's 
life  was  that  of  the  setting  sun  which  he  loved 
so  much,  and  which  he  now  manifested  in  him- 
self. And  as  I,  at  the  view  of  the  sunset  have 
no  thought  of  its  vanishing,  but  of  its  return, 
so  here  I  felt  the  certainty  of  the  immortal  life. 
Never  before  did  I  experience  such  a  complete 
extinction  of  all  the  terrors  of  death." 

On  the  24th  the  funeral  took  place.  He  lay 
covered  with  flowers  and  wreaths,  a  gentle  smile 
playing  round  his  lips;  his  face,  as  a  whole,  had 
the  appearance  of  looking  inward.  The  pro- 
cession, composed  of  children,  kindergardners, 
teachers  and  friends,  passed  to  the  village  of 
Schweina,  not  far  away,  where  the  pastor 
preached  a  sermon  and  Middendorf  made  an 
address.  The  latter  has  a  peculiar  note,  as 
of  one  friend  speaking  intimately  to  another; 
the  discourse  seems  hardly  directed  to  the 
audience  present.  The  living  talks  to  the  dead 
as  if  heard  across  the  chasm,  and  speaks  of 
4 '  the  recognition  of  the  truth  proclaimed  by 
Thee,"  in  a  vein  of  exalted  prophesy.  By  the 
disciple  here  the  master  yonder  is  addressed 
directly  in"  the  second  person  as  "  Thou  who 
during  life  didst  travel  the  ways  of  suffering  for 


THE  KINDERGARDEN    PROPAGATED.       449 

our  sake  ' '  —  language  which  recalls  the  ancient 
apostleship  on  the  plains  of  Judea.  A  poem, 
also  by  Middendorf ,  was  sung,  followed  by  a 
hymn,  when  the  mortal  part  of  Froebel  was 
committed  to  the  earth,  amid  many  demonstra- 
tions of  love  and  gratitude  on  the  part  of  those 
present. 

Upon  the  mound  at  the  grave  stands  now  the 
monument  designed  by  Middendorf  —  Sphere, 
Cylinder  and  Cube  — a  very  significant  conception. 
For  it  is  taken  from  the  second  Gift,  the  truly 
originative  Gift,  since  all  the  other  Play -gifts 
are  derived  from  this  one,  which  thus  represents 
the  very  center  and  creative  principle  of  Froebel's 
work.  Moreover  the  second  Gift  with  its  three 
shapes  and  their  unity  was  a  growth  of  Froebel' s 
whole  life.  Middendorf 's  conception  shows  how 
deeply  he  lived  in  the  very  soul  of  Froebel  and 
could  think  its  thought  when  the  friend  and  mas- 
ter himself  was  no  longer  visible.  Upon  the 
monument  are  inscribed  the  words  which  have 
become  the  motto  of  consecration  for  the  kin- 
dergardner  the  world  over:  «'  Come,  let  us  live 
for  our  children." 

IX- 

Middendorf,  The  Baroness,   Madam  Froebel. 

Already  we  have  designated  an  inner  circle  of 
disciples  who  stood  nearest  to  Froebel,  those  in 
whom  he  was  most  completely  incarnated  —  Mid- 
29 


450  THE    LIFE    OF   FROEBEL. 

dendorf,  the  Baroness,  and  Madam  Froebel. 
Of  these  we  may  give  a  very  brief  account  and 
bring  to  a  close  this  biography. 

Many  other  devoted  followers  Froebel  has  had, 
but  these  enjoy  a  peculiar  distinction ;  they  par- 
take not  only  of  his  doctrine,  but  of  his  person- 
ality, they  are  more  than  Frobelian,  they  are  in 
a  sense  Froebel  himself;  they  voice  the  man, 
not  simply  the  man's  ideas.  Through  close 
individual  contact,  as  well  as  through  a  unique 
sympathy  they  received  as  their  inheritance  from 
the  master  a  share  of  Froebel' s  own  self,  so  that 
they  are  the  direct  heirs  of  his  spiritual  property, 
the  only  property  he  had.  They  looked  upon 
him  with  a  kind  of  worship,  his  spirit  went  out 
into  theirs  and  became  a  living  presence,  it  sank 
down  into  their  unconscious  being  and  directed 
their  conduct.  In  a  sense  he  was  their  embodi- 
ment of  the  Divine  upon  this  earth,  and  his  word 
was  a  kind  of  Gospel.  The  Baroness  speaks  of 
a  doctrinal  letter  of  his  which  she  kept  by  her  as 
a  sacred  treasure,  carrying  it  with  her  on  her 
journeys  and  imparting  its  contents  to  the 
initiated  with  a  species  of  holy  awe.  A  deep 
sorrow  overwhelmed  her  when  the  original  was 
lost  by  accident,  though  it  was  preserved  in 
copies.  The  three  were  Christians,  yet  to  their 
eyes  Christ  had  received  a  new  incarnation  in 
Froebel.  The  mentioned  letter  was  known  among 
the  set  as  Froebel' s  Epistle  to  the  Baroness,  a 


THE  KINDEEGAEDEN  PROPAGATED.       451 

very  important  document  in  this  Newest  Testa- 
ment, containing  Froebel's  Evangel  of  the  Little 
Child. 

Of  the  three,  Middendorf  was  most  com- 
pletely bound  up  in  Froebel;  that  is,  the  whole 
Middendorf  sank  away  into  his  friend,  his  in- 
dividuality was  quite  lost,  or,  rather,  such  was 
just  his  individuality,  to  be  lost  in  his  friend. 
The  result  was  life  became  intertwined  in  life ; 
forty  years  they  had  worked  together,  and  were 
twinned  in  a  union  which  is  now  to  be  tested 
by  the  first  real  separation.  Middendorf  threw 
himself  into  the  work  after  Froebel's  death ; 
he  assisted  Madam  Froebel  in  every  possible  way, 
he  sought  by  an  outer  activity  to  fill  the  great 
void  in  the  world,  and  in  his  own  heart.  Appar- 
ently he  was  happy  as  usual,  he  went  on  his 
walks,  nor  did  he  seem  to  relax  in  his  power  of 
work. 

Still  Middendorf 's  heart  was  breaking,  he 
could  not  stand  the  separation.  We  see  by  his 
conversations  with  the  Baroness  on  what  he  was 
always  thinking.  They  both  had  a  common  sor- 
row; she  by  her  sympathy  and  love  opened  the 
sluices  of  his  soul.  His  delight  (and  hers,  too) 
was  to  talk  of  the  departed  friend,  to  recall  the 
words,  the  actions,  all  the  scenes  connected  with 
the  one  whom  both  named  master.  Midden- 
dorf went  back  to  the  beginning  of  their  com- 
mon life  in  the  war  of  1812.  He  did  not  forget 


452  THE    LIFE    OF   FEOEBEL. 

to  mention  to  the  Baroness  the  woman-soldier 
in  that  campaign  also.  Then  his  thoughts 
would  turn  to  the  future,  and  the  possible  re- 
union and  activity  over  the  border.  Also  they 
made  pilgrimages  to  Froebel's  favorite  places, 
and  to  Froebel's  grave. 

So  the  days  passed  till  the  Baroness  began  to 
notice  that  Middendorf  was  no  longer  so  robust, 
in  fact,  he  seemed  to  be  breaking  physically. 
Like  Froebel,  he  commenced  to  show  signs  of 
exhaustion  with  every  small  effort;  he,  too,  had  a 
presentiment  of  whither  he  was  going.  One  day 
when  he  was  wearied,  the  Baroness  took  his 
class  and  heard  the  lesson.  He  listened  with 
deep  appreciation,  and  remarked  when  she  was 
done :  « '  You  must  take  my  place  when  I  leave  the 
world."  Evidently  some  dim  premonition  of  the 
coming  transition  was  present  to  him  at  that 
moment. 

After  Froebel's  decease  Middendorf 's  heart 
was  beyond  with  his  friend.  He  could  think  of 
nothing  and  talk  of  nothing  but  Froebel.  As 
in  life  so  now;  wherever  Froebel  went,  he  fol- 
lowed; as  Lange  says,  "  they  were  the  insepar- 
able ones ;  if  Froebel  but  appeared,  Middendorf 
was  not  far  away."  And  at  the  great  separation 
he  will  not  stay  long  behind. 

Still  the  inner  circle  of  disciples  met  again 
together  the  following  year  (1853).  The  Baro- 
ness came  to  Keilhau,  whither  Madam  Froebel 


THE  KINDEEGAEDEN  PROPAGATED.       453 

had  removed  from  Liebenstein  with  the  training- 
school.  Middendorf  was  the  center,  but  the 
work  gave  signs  of  transition.  This  was  to  be 
the  last  time  of  their  meeting  together. 

On  the  night  "of  November  27th,  1853,  Mid- 
dendorf passed  away  without  apparent  previous 
illness,  in  consequence  of  a  paralytic  stroke,  as 
the  physician  reported.  Thus  he  held  out  a 
little  more  than  a  year  after  Froebel's  departure. 
Only  conjecture  can  account  for  his  sudden 
demise;  without  warning  he  took  wings  and 
sped  forth  in  the  night. 

After  the  decease  of  Middendorf  the  two 
women  disciples  remain  —  the  one,  Froebel's 
wife,  representing  more  his  instinct  and  heart, 
the  other,  the  Baroness,  representing  more  his 
intellect  and  his  thought.  Both  will  survive 
Middendorf  aud  Froebel  many  years,  and  each 
will  devote  herself  to  the  propagation  of  the 
truth  in  her  own  way. 

The  Baroness  is  the  apostle  to  foreign  lands ; 
Europe  is  her  seed-field  which  she  takes  and 
cultivates  with  marvelous  energy  and  success. 
Her  own  country  at  first  will  not  listen  to  her,  so 
she  goes  forth  and  makes  the  kindergarden  not 
simply  national  but  international,  not  German 
merely,  but  European.  So  great  have  been  her 
services  that  she  may  be  called  the  mother  of  the 
kindergarden.  Later  she  returned  and  devoted 


454  THE   LIFE    OF   FROEBEL. 

herself  to  Germany,  but  she  never  succeeded  in 
removing  the  early  hostility  to  her  cause. 

When  Middendorf  was  gone,  Madam  Froebel 
could  no  longer  stay  at  Keilhau.  It  was  a  very 
trying  ordeal  for  her  to  go  back  tC)  that  place  from 
which  she  had  been  in  a  manner  exiled,  but  she 
obeyed  what  seemed  to  be  the  dying  wish  of  her 
husband,  and  the  gentle  persuasion  of  Midden- 
dorf. He  could  protect  her  while  he  lived,  but 
now  there  was  no  protection,  at  least  none  which 
could  render  life  supportable.  She  soon  goes  to 
Dresden,  but  her  stay  is  made  unpleasant  in  that 
city;  then  she  goes  to  Hamburg,  which  becomes 
the  field  of  her 'future  labors.  These  continued 
many  years  till  she  saw  the  light  of  the  20th 
century,  when  she  expired  (Jan.  8th,  1900). 
ThUs  the  inner  circle  of  Froebel' s  disciples  has 
reached  down  to  the  present. 

With  the  death  of  Madam  Froebel  the  biogra- 
phy of  Froebel  and  of  his  immediate  circle  comes 
to  a  close,  extending  from  his  birth  in  1782  till 
1900. 


NOTES. 

(1)  p.  2.  That  which  is  usually  called  Froebel's  Autobi- 
ography is  his  Letter  to  the  Duke  of  Meiningen,  which  is 
commonly  assigned  to  the  year  1827.  (Translated  by 
Michaelis  and  Moore,  published  by  Bardeen;  translated  also 
by  Lucy  Wheelock  —  with  omissions,  we  notice  —  published 
in  Barnard's  Kinder  gar  den  and  Child  Culture.} 

The  early  life  of  Froebel  is  almost  wholly  drawn  from  three 
long  letters  of  his  —  all  of  them  autobiographic.  These  are : 

1.  The  Meiningen  Letter  just  mentioned,  which  is  the  chief 
document.     It  breaks  off  suddenly  about  the  year  1815. 

2.  The   Krause   Letter,   so   named  from  the  philosopher 
Krause,   to    whom    it    was    addressed    in   1828.     Partially 
translated  by  Michaelis  and  Moore. 

3.  The  Letter  to  Christoph  Froebel,,  written  from  a  place 
near  Frankfort,  and  dated  March-April,  1807.     This  letter, 
therefore,  is  twenty  years  earlier  than  the  two  preceding. 
No  translation  of  it  in  English  is  known  to  us.     A  peculiar 
letter:  Sentimental  and  pre-sentimental. 

All  three  are  to  be  found  in  the  German  edition  of  Wichard 
Lange,  Friedrich  FroebeVs  gesammelte  pddagogische  Schriften, 
Erste  Abtheilung,  Erster  Sand.  Berlin,  1862,  Verlag  von 
Enslin.  The  first  volume,  we  shall  briefly  refer  to  thus, 
Lange,  I,  and  the  second  similarly,  Lange,  II,  adding,  of 
course,  the  page  when  necessary. 

Before  each  of  the  three  letters  Lange  prints  as  a  caption 
Aus  einem  Briefe,  which  must  mean  that  he  has  chosen  not 
to  give  the  whole  letter^  but  to  make  certain  omissions.  The 
reason  for  such  omissions  he  has  not  told,  except  in  the  case 
of  one  passage  in  the  Krause  Letter,  and  then  the  reason  is 
not  very  satisfactory.  From  this  cause  (among  others)  there 
is  a  call  for  a  new  and  complete  edition  of  Froebel's  works 
in  German,  though  Lange  did  a  great  service  in  his  day  by 
his  edition. 

We  follow  chiefly  the  Meiningen  Letter  as  far  as  it  goes. 

(455) 


456  THE  LIFE   OF   F  ROE  BEL. 

A  critical  reading  suggests  the  following  conclusions  about 
it:  («)  Quite  a  portion  of  it  was  composed  before  the  year 
1827.  (ft)  The  parts  which  refer  to  the  Duke  of  Meiningeu 
seem  to  be  later  interpolations  for  a  special  occasion.  We 
think  we  notice  two  such  interpolations  in  Lange  I,  s  37, 
and  more  decidedly  s.  78  (corresponding  passages  in  trans- 
lation of  Michaelis  and  Moore,  p  9,  and  p.  56)  Also  other 
passages  of  the  kind  may  be  noticed.  The  interpolations 
belong  to  the  year  1827  or  thereabouts,  (c)  The  style,  dif- 
ferent from  Froebel's  style,  is  doubtless  Lauge's,  though  the 
facts  are  Froebel's.  See  later,  note  (20). 

(2)  p.  3.  This  fact,  not  mentioned  anywhere  by  Frederick 
Froebel,  is   given,  by  Julius  Froebel  in  his  Ein  Lebenslauf, 
s.  3,  with  an  added  experience  in  America. 

(3)  p.  22    See,  for   instance,  Hanschmaun's  very  jejune 
account  in  his  lengthy  Life  of  Froebel,  p.  20. 

Here  we  may  state  that  this  work  of  Hanschmann's  is  the 
standard  biography  of  Froebel.  The  full  title  of  it  runs: 
Friedrich  Froebel,  Die  Entwickelung  seiner  Erziehungsidee  in 
seinem  Leben,  von  Alexander  Bruno  Hanschmann,  Eisenach, 
Verlag  von  J.  Bacmeister.  The  preface  is  dated  May  1st, 
1874. 

A  translation  of  this  book  has  appeared  in  English,  con- 
densed and  "  adapted,"  under  the  following  title:  The  Kin- 
dergarden  System,  its  Origin  and  Development  as  Seen  in  the 
Life  of  Frederick  Froebel,  by  Fanny  Franks,  London,  Swan 
Sonnenschein  £  Co. ;  also  Syracuse,  N.  Y.,  Bardeen. 

Our  references  to  this  book  are  always  to  the  German 
original,  as  FroebeVs  Leben,  or  at  times  The  Life  of  Froebel 
by  Hanschmaun. 

(4)  p.  28.  The    preceding    section    is  derived    from  the 
Meiningen  Letter.    Through  Batsch  ( August  Johaun)  Froebel 
connects  in  Natural   Science  with  Goethe,  who  had  sent 
Batsch    to   Jena   some   fifteen  years   before   this,   and   had 
directed  his  studies.     See  Diintzer's  Life  of  Goethe,  p.  343. 
Eng.  Trans. 

(5)  p.  3<>.  The    most    elaborate    account    of    Fichte    and 
Schelling  is  given  by  Kuno  Fischer  in  his  History  of  Modern 
Philosophy. 


NOTES.  457 

(6)  p.  41.  The  most  complete  work  on  the  present  subject 
is  Haym's  Die  Homantische  Schule. 

(7)  p.  57.  For  Goethe's  relation  to  Jena  see  especially  his 
Briefwechsel  mil  Schiller,  and  other  portions  of  his  enormous 
correspondence. 

(8)  p.  57.  See  her  Reminiscences,  p.  121. 

(9)  p.  59.  The  account  of  this  rough  experience  is  quite 
fully  given  in  the  Meiningen  Letter,  and  is  repeated  by  all 
the  biographers.     This  brother,  Traugott,  though  he  resided 
at  Stadt-Ilm,  not  far  from  Keilhau,  and  was  physician  and 
burgomaster  there,  falls  completely  out  of  Froebel's  life  and 
career,  in  striking  contrast  with  Christoph   and   Christian, 
the    other    brothers.      Brother    Christoph    had    also    been 
suppressed  by  the  father  who  seemingly  had  made  him  a 
clergyman   against  his  will.     Hence  one  ground  of  strong 
sympathy  between  him  and  Frederick. 

(10)  p.  71.  These    "Aphorisms"   have  been  printed    by 
Lange,   I,   262.     This   title,   however,    (Aphorisms)   is   not 
Froebel's,  but  Lange's,  who  makes  a  selection  from  one  of 
Froebel's  pamphlets  bearing  the  date  of  1821.     See  a  trans- 
lation of  some  of  these  Aphorisms,  which  show  a  stage  of 
Froebel's    development,    in    our    Psychology    of   FroebeVs 
Play-gifts,  p.  93. 

(11)  p.  73.  For  the  place  of  Novalis  in  the  romantic  move- 
ment,  see   Haym  in  Die  Eomantische  Schule.     Carlyle  first 
made  the  name  of  Novalis  known  to  English  readers  by  his 
essay  in  his  Miscellaneous  Writings,  first  published  in  a  mag- 
azine.    Herder  also  belongs  to  those  who  would  find  in  na- 
ture the  movement  of  the  human  spirit,  or  the  unity  between 
nature    and   spirit  —  naturalizing    spirit  and    spiritualizing 
nature.     Such  was  the  essence  of  his  great  work:  Ideen  zur 
Philosophie  der  G-eschichte  der  Menschheit.     Also  a  stimulating 
but  scattered  genius,  like  Schelling.     As  to  Novalis,  the  state- 
ment of  Haym  is :  "  For  the  author  of  Ofterdingen  (Novalis), 
nature  is  finally  but  a  symbol  of  the  inner  world  of  man." 
See  Die  Itomantische  Schule,  s.  610.) 

(12)  p.  87.  See  the  appendix  to  Lange,  I,  524,  Aus  einem 
Briefe  an  Christoph  Froebel.    Specially  p.  535.    Dated  March- 
April,  1807. 


458  THE    LIFE    OF   F  ROE  BEL. 

(13)  p.  93.  See  the  passage  in  the  letter  just  cited,  p.  533. 
This  passage,  however,  is  taken  from  a  previous  letter  under 
date  of  August  24-2(5,  1805. 

(14)  p.  95,  cited  in  the  Meiningen    letter,  Lange,  !_,  78. 
Pestalozzi's  words:  es  geht  ungehiir. 

(15)  p.  98.  Correction:  the  special  fact  stated  here  is  a 
mistake;  it  was  Pestalozzi  who  wrote  in  Froebel's  album 
the  misspelt  word,  and  not  the  reverse,  as  given  in  the  text. 
See  Hanschmann's  Leben,  p.  38,  where  the  verse  is  printed. 
Still  the  general  fact  as   stated  in  the  text,    in  regard  to 
Froebel's  grammar  and  spelling,  remains  true,  as  his  editors 
testify. 

(16)  107.  Pestalozzi's  description  of  the  advent  of  Schmid 
is   given  in  his  booklet,  Meine  LebenscMcksale  (  Werke  Band 
XV.),  in  whose  composition  Schmid's  hand  has  been  seen. 

Froebel  was  not  present  when  Pestalozzi  had  his  coffin 
brought  into  the  school,  and,  taking  his  place  beside  it, 
made  an  address  —  a  desperate  utterance  of  his  despair  — 
saying  that  harmony  has  fled,  discord  and  selfishness  rule. 
This  blood-curdling  Alpine  metaphor  —  for  such  seems  to 
have  been  its  purpose  —  was  enacted  on  New  Year's,  1808. 
Froebel  appeared  at  Yverdon  some  six  months  later. 

(17)  p.  119.  Sir    William    Jones    had    already    compared 
Sanscrit  with  European  tongues;  also  Frederick  Schlegel 
had    done  the   same.     But  the  great  work  in  Comparative 
Philology,  Bopp's  Comparative  Grammar,  had  not  yet  been 
published. 

(18)  p.  120.  See  Froebel's  account  in  the  Meiningen  Letter, 
Lange,  I,  103.     But  in  the  Krause  Letter  he  seems  to  refer 
his  first  thoughts  on  "the  universal  spherical- Law,"  to  his 
Jena  period.     (Lange,  I,  129). 

The  significance  of  these  reflections  on  the  sphere  and  its 
law,  and  the  place  they  occupy  in  Froebel's  development  of 
the  kindergarden,  are  set  forth  in  the  author's  work,  The 
Psychology  of  FroebeVs  Play-gifts,  pp.  92-100. 

It  may  be  here  stated  that  Froebel's  early  occupation  as  a 
surveyor  caused  him  to  adjust  nature  to  geometric  lines  and 
forms  —  a  fact  so  prominent  in  the  Gifts.  Also  the  idea  of 
Measure  is  paramount  in  surveying. 


NOTES.  459 

(19)  p.  133.  For  the  soldier-life  of  Froebel,  see  Meiningen 
Letter,  to  which  the  Krause  Letter  adds  one  or  two  facts. 
(Lange,  I,  144.) 

The  episode  with  Prohaska  is  not  mentioned  by  Froebel, 
but  is  told  in  Langethal's  book,  from  which  Ebers  has 
taken  copious  information  in  his  History  of  my  Life. 
Evidently  a  forbidden  incident  of  the  war,  at  least  not  to  be 
told  to  the  Keilhau  boys.  Still  Middendorf  alludes  to  it  in 
his  conversations  with  the  Baroness  shortly  after  FroebePs 
death.  (See  her  Eeminiscences,  p.  313.) 

The  deeds  of  the  Liitzow  Corps  were  a  constant  theme  of 
glorification  afterwards  at  Keilhau.  But  Goldammer  tells 
us,  in  his  biography  of  Froebel,  that  this  Corps  utterly  failed 
to  fulfill  the  expectations  formed  of  it  at  Berlin.  Such  was 
evidently  the  Berlin  military  opinion. 

For  Froebel1  s  statement  of  the  reasons  why  he  became  a 
soldier,  see  Autobiography.  (Lange,  I,  107.) 

(20)  p.  138.  In  the  midst  of  this  crystallographic  period 
the  Meiningen  Letter  comes  suddenly  to  an  end.   The  Krause 
Letter  mentions  the  transition  to    Griesheim,  and  gives  a 
brief  abstract  of  the  events  at  Keilhau  till  1826. 

Lange  says  that  he  had  to  decipher  laboriously  the  Mein- 
ingen Letter  from  an  almost  unreadable  sketch ;  also  l '  my 
own  style  helped  out  here  and  there,  though  I  have  always 
stated  the  fact  with  the  utmost  fidelity."  (I,  p.  116.)  In  an- 
other passage  at  a  different  place  Lange  says :  ( '  To  the 
Autobiography  I  had  to  give  a  new  form  almost  throughout." 
(  Vorwort.} 

The  Meiningen  Letter  (Autobiography)  is  usually  said  to 
have  been  written  in  1827,  hence  the  period  of  the  Krause 
Letter  and  of  the  Education  of  Man.  Yet  its  style  (Ger- 
man) is  wholly  different  from  that  of  these  two  productions. 
Doubtless  it  has  Lange's  style,  for  the  most  part. 

Froebel  implies  in  the  Krause  Letter  (p.  135),  that  he  quit 
the  Berlin  University  because  he  found  it  too  narrow  for 
him. 

(21)  p.  148.  See  Lange  I,  146,  note,  for  Lange's  report  of 
Freebel's  promise  to  the  widow. 

For  an  account  of  Froebel' s  early  scheme  of  a  school   in 


460  THE  LIFE   OF  FROEBEL. 

the  country,  see  the  plan  published  in  Lange  I,  539.     This 
plan  reaches  back  to  1807,  if  not  before. 

(22)  p.  151.  There  is  a  good  deal  of  literature   on  early 
Keilhau,  written  by  both  pupils  and  teachers  of  this  period. 
The  cited  corrupt  French  word  is  taken  from  Hanschmami, 
p.  110.     See  also  Julius  Froebel  in  Erster  Abschnitt  of    his 
Lebenslauf. 

(23)  p.  161.  Langethal  also  has  written  an  account  of  his 
life,  extracts  from  which  the  reader  of  English  can  see  in 
George  Ebers'  Hintorii  of  my  Life. 

(24)  p.    173.  Lange's  statement  of  Froebel's  promise   (I, 
146)  is  of  course  written  from  Froebel's  side.     All  the  biog- 
raphers repeat  simply  what  Lauge  has  said. 

But  the  student  of  Froebel's  life  who  wishes  to  see  the  full 
character  of  the  man  must  read  Julius  Froebel's  statement 
in  full:  Erster  Abschnitt  of  Ein  Lebenslauf.  A  very  good 
account  of  the  Keilhau  customs  is  also  there  given,  with 
many  characteristic  anecdotes. 

So  many  men  in  America,  particularly  old  German  emi- 
grants, will  say,  "  I  have  seen  your  Froebel  here  in  this 
country."  Whereupon  follows  stout  discussion,  which 
usually  ends  in  the  discovery  that  Julius  Froebei  is  meant, 
who  wandered  nearly  everywhere,  making  a  line  of  acquaint- 
ances up  and  down  the  Mississippi  Valley,  along  the  Atlantic 
coast  even  to  Central  America,  leaving  a  faint  echo  of  the 
name  Froebel  almost  around  the  globe.  Old  readers  of  the 
New  York  Tribune  will  recollect  his  letters,  as  he  was  one  of 
its  correspondents. 

(25)  p.  179.  Julius  Froebel's  book  bears  the  date  of  July, 
1889    (Zurich),  full    seventy    years  after  these  events   at 
Keilhau,  Frederick  Froebel  having  been  married  in  1818. 

Julius  Froebel  in  his  somewhat  lengthy  account  never 
mentions  either  Middendorf  or  Langethal  by  name,  though 
they  were  altogether  the  most  prominent  teachers  after  the 
uncle.  Julius  evidently  disliked  both  for  a  reason  which  he 
well  knew,  though  he  cannot  speak  of  it  directly.  He  im- 
plies that  all  the  other  teachers  we  re 'servile  and  truckling, 
except  three  whom  he  mentions  by  name  —  Schonbein, 
Michaelis,  and  especially  Herzog — all  of  whom  maintained 


NOTES.  461 

"  their  critical  freedom  "  against  "  the  autocrat,"  but  had  to 
leave  for  that  reason. 

The  disparaging  anecdote  about  the  lesson  in  Homer 
(p.  33)  is  told  of  Langethal  doubtless,  who  was  teacher  of 
the  classics.  Julius  must  have  been  a  pupil  of  both  Mid- 
dendorf  and  Langethal  for  some  six  years.  But  he  will  not 
allow  their  names  to  pass  his  lips  —  or  his  pen. 

(26)  p.  186.  It  ought  to  be  stated  that  there  is  a  contra- 
diction between  Lange   and  the  Baroness  in  regard  to  the 
date  of  the  death  of  Christian  Froebel,  who  is  alluded  to  on 
p.  184.     Lange  states  that  he  died  in  1851  (see  his  chrono- 
logical list  of  events  of  Froebel's  life).     But  the  Baroness 
says:  "I  found  him  in  the  wash-cellar;  "  this  was  during 
her  visit  at  Keilhau  in  1853  (see  her  Erinnerungen,  p.  210). 
Her  ocular  evidence  will  have  to  outweigh  that  of  Lange? 
though  the  latter  married  Christian  Froebel's  granddaughter. 

(27)  p.  190.  The  report  of  Dr.  Zeh  is  found  in  Lange  I, 
p.  22.     Says  Lange,  p.  23:  "Keilhau  was  publicly    and  in 
secret  represented  as  a  breeding-nest    of    demagogue ry." 
Lange  (same  page)  ascribes  the  falling-off  of  pupils  "  from 
60  down  to  5  in  1829,"  to  this  cause.     This  helped,  but  there 
were  other  and  deeper  causes. 

(28)  p.    197.  See    Em  Lebenslauf,  s.   39.     In    the     same 
book  the  reader  will  find  "  the  negative  element  "  presented 
strongly  by  one  who  shared  in  it.     The  reader  should  also 
consult  the  same  book  for  the  other  side  (kind,  sympathetic) 
of  the  character  of  Herzog. 

Those  who  wish  to  see  Froebel's  view  of  Herzog  can  find 
an  echo  of  it  in  Lange's  note  (I,  p.  124),  which  makes  very 
serious  charges  against  Herzog' s  character,  stating  among 
other  things  that  he  brought  a  strange  woman  into  the  Keil- 
hau families,  "  whom  he  declared  to  be  his  wife,"  but  who, 
Lange  implies,  was  not  his  wife.  Then  he,  too,  would  not 
pay  his  debts  and  blamed  Froebel  for  it,  claiming  money  due 
him  from  Froebel. 

We  hold  that  both  the  friendly  and  unfriendly  witnesses 
have  presented  the  two  opposite  sides  of  one  personality, 
and  that  the  facts  of  both  can  be  accepted  and  united  into 
one  character,  in  the  case  of  Herzog. 


462  THE    LIFE    OF   FROEBEL. 

(29)  p.  205.  We  have  already  noticed  that  Julius  Froebel 
will  not  mention  by  name  his  old  teachers,  Middendorf  and 
Langethal,  doubtless    regarding    them   (especially    Lange- 
thal)  as  the  prime  instigators  of  the  wrong  done  his  mother, 
or  of  what  he  deems  her  wrong. 

(30)  p.  210.  There  is  no  attempt  in  this  section  to  give 
anything  like  a  complete  account  of  the  Education  of  Man. 
This  would  require  a  long  dissertation,  which  would  inter- 
rupt too  much  the  movement  of  the  narrative.     Still,  the 
book  deserves  a  thorough-going  critique,  which  would  put 
it  into  its  right  place  in  the  development  of  Froebel's  life, 
and    correct  many  misunderstandings.      It  may  be  added 
here  that  the  author  has  elaborated  such   a  critique,  and 
hopes  to  print  it  in  the  near  future. 

(31)  p.  215.  See  the  Krause  Letter,  dated  Keilhau,  March 
24th,  1828,  Lange,  I,  125,  for  the  allusion  to  the  withdrawal 
of  his  nephews.     There  is  no  English  translation  as  far  as 
we  know,  of  the  first  and  most  important  part  of  the  Krause 
Letter  —  the  "Fate-compelling"  part.     The  translators  of 
the  Autobiography   (Michaelis  and   Moore)  have  strangely 
omitted  that  portion. 

(32)  p.  221.  Lange's  note  to  the  Krause  Letter,  I,  124. 

(33)  p.  226.  The  prefatory  note  to  the  Krause  Letter  by 
Lange,  I,  119. 

(34)  p.  232.  This  "  loftier  dignity  "  is  an  expression  that 
puzzled  Lange  and  the  members  of  the  Keilhau  circle,  as 
he  says  (I,  126,  note).     Yet  to  us  the  context  gives  a  very 
distinct  meaning.     Undoubtedly  the  whole  letter  is  difficult 
(especially  the  first  part  of  it),  unless  the  reader  penetrates 
to  the  distressed  soul  of  Froebel  hiding  its  woes  from  a 
vulgar  stare  in  their  very  expression. 

(35)  p.  240.  The  appearance  of  Froebel  and  Middendorf  at 
Gottingen  is  described  by  Hanschmann,    FroebeVs  Leben, 
p.  152,  from  the  account  of  an  eye-witness. 

(36)  p.  244.  The  documents  pertaining  to  the  institute  at 
Helba  are  given  by  Lange,  I,  399-417.     They  consist  of  a 
prospectus  and  a  program  of  studies.     Both  are  worthy  of 
study  by  the  educator,  as  they  show  that  many  ideas  sup- 


NOTES.  4X63 

posed  to  be  bran-new  in  these  days  had  already  been  thought 
out  by  Froebel,  and  some  of  them  transcended. 

(37)  p.  251.  The   announcement  of  the  Institute  at  War- 
tensee  is  printed  by  Lange,  I,  423,  and  signed  by  both  Froebel 
and    Schnyder.      See    also    Hanschmann's    Leben,  Achter 
Abschnitt. 

(38)  p.  260.  See  Barop's  account,  given  in  Lange,  I,  8. 

(39)  p.  262.  These  facts  are  told  by  Juluis  Froebel  in  his 
book,  Ein  Lebenslauf. 

(40)  p.  283.  For  the  development  of  the  Second  or  Origi- 
native Play-gift,  as  well  as  its  place  in  his  system  and  in  his 
life's  unfolding,  see  our  Psychology  of  FroebeVs  Play-gifts, 
beginning  on  p.  49.     For  the  historical  development  specially 
see  p.  92.     The  details  there  given  we  cannot  repeat  here. 

(41)  p.  285.  Says    Wichard    Lange,  editor    of    Froebel's 
Works,   in  reference    to   this    essay  on    Lebenserneuerung : 
u  It  was  not  written  for  publication  originally,  but  was  in- 
tended to  be  imparted  to  the  members  of  his  educational 
circle  through  the  manuscript.     In  my  opinion  it  ought  not 
to  be  left  out  of  his  works,  as  its  content  is  characteristic  in 
spite  of  many  peculiarities  of  form.     It  is  known  in  Froebel's 
family  why  he  designated  the  beginning  of  the  year,  1836, 
as  the  starting-point  of  a  new  epoch.     After  mature  deliber- 
ation, however,  I  must  decline  to  publish  the  motive  which 
hovered  before  his  mind." 

Thus  Lange  implies  that  a  personal  motive  lay  behind  this 
piece  of  writing,  which  motive  does  not  appear  on  the 
surface.  Some  family  secret  seems  alluded  to,  which  Lange, 
being  connected  with  the  Froebel  circle  both  by  friendship 
and  by  marriage,  declares  himself  unwilling  to  divulge. 

Still  one  cannot  help  observing  that  Lange  takes  the  best 
method  of  rousing  the  reader's  curiosity  in  the  foregoing 
passage,  which  is  printed  prominently  in  the  preface  (Band 
II,  Erste  Abtheilung*)  to  the  volume  containing  Froebel's 
Education  vf  Man,  in  Lange' s  edition  of  Froebel's  Works. 
Lange  certainly  intended  the  reader  to  conjecture  what  that 
secret  was,  otherwise  he  would  have  kept  silent.  Moreover 
it  is  manifest  that  Lange  considered  the  matter  not  in  the 


464  THE    LIFE    OF    FROEBtfL. 

light  of  idle  gossip,  but  as  a  powerful  "motive"  which 
stirred  Froebel  to  a  new  activity  in  life. 

There  are  three  printed  documents  pertaining  to  this 
Burgdorf  period.  As  they  bear  a  common  stamp  in  style  and 
in  thought  we  note  them  separately. 

1.  The  essay  entitled  Life's  Renewal  (Lebenserneuerung} 
which  is  printed  in  Lange's  edition  of  Froebel's  Works, 
Part  I,  Vol.  II.  As  far  as  we  are  aware,  there  is  no  English 
translation. 

The  first  sentence  declares  "  the  annunciation  of  a  new 
spring  time  of  Life  and  of  Humanity  which  is  now  sounding 
loud  and  distinct "  in  and  through  all  the  events  of  Froebel's 
days. 

a  It  is  thou,  Renewal  and  Rejuvenation  of  all  Life,  who 
art  speaking  so  clearly  and  definitely  to  my  spirit."  Note 
this  form  of  address  in  the  second  person,  which  is  very 
common  m  the  present  essay.  "  Thou,  Time,  in  which 
Divinity  blossoms  out  of  Humanity,  as  the  perfect  woman 
shines  forth  from  the  Maria  of  a  Raphael."  Moreover, 
this  is  "  a  Time  of  Lilies."  Thus  he  connects  this  period 
and  its  event  with  the  Mother  and  Child  Divine. 

Froebel  next  proceeds  to  a  kind  of  glorification  or  deifica- 
tion of  the  Family,  which  is  the  means  whereby  man  becomes 
conscious  of  the  Divine.  Moreover  .the  Family  is  a  har- 
monious trinity  in  unity — three  yet  one  —  father,  mother, 
child.  Through  the  earliest  portions  of  the  essay  runs  an 
exalted,  tender,  mystical  view  of  motherhood.  Herein  the 
student  will  see  one  inspiring  cause  of  the  Mother  Play- 
songs.  The  latter  part  of  the  essay  drops  down  in  tone 
when  the  author  passes  to  other  matters,  as  law,  people, 
state,  emigration. 

2.  Another  production  composed  in  a  very  similar  vein 
and  during  this  period  is  a  letter  of  Froebel  to  Adolph  Frank- 
enberg,  written  at  the  midnight  hour  when  the  old  year,  1835, 
was  passing  into  the  new  year,  183(5,  which  fact  is  made 
symbolic  of  birth  and  renewal.  Froebel  speaks  of  this  past 
year  (1835)  "  as  a  remarkable  year  in  the  history  of  my  most 
intimate  personal  life,"  then  he  adds,  "  and  possibly  in  the 
history  of  the  universal  life  of  humanity."  He  seems  to  be 


NOTES.  4G5 

conscious  of  the  importance  and  the  greatness  of  the  seed- 
thought  which  has  appeared  during  the -year,  and  he  pro- 
phetically looks  forward  to  "  the  harvest  of  the  sowing  of 
1835."  Yet  all  this  seems  to  be  coupled  with  another  event. 
"  I  have  seen  the  year  1836  approaching  full  of  hope  for  a 
good  while ;  just  why,  think  you?  Because  the  inner  develop- 
ment of  life  demands  necessarily  an  outer,  because  every- 
thing in  God's  world  unfolds  according  to  fixed  laws  so  that 
it  must  necessarily  appear  at  a  certain  time  in  accord  with 
these  laws."  And  so  on,  with  other  significant  allusions  in 
the  same  letter,  which  is  printed  by  Hanschmann  in  his 
FroebeVs  Leben,  pp.  262-8. 

3.  Another  very  important  document  for  showing  the  mood 
and  thought  of  the  Burgdorf  period,  is  the  cyclus  of  seven 
"  Mother-songs  "  prefixed  to  the  book  of  Mother  Play-songs. 
The  first  one  has  as  its  theme  u  the  mother  in  the  feeling  of 
her  life's  unification  with  her  child,"  in  whom  she  sees  mani- 
fested "  Faith,  Love,  Hope,"  or  the  three  celestial  virtues  of 
the  medieval  Church  (see  I^ante's  Paradise,  passim).  As 
the  Christ-child  "  rays  out"  these  virtues  to  the  Madonna, 
so  the  human  child  now  reveals  them  to  its  mother  (and 
father  too,  perchance).  Thus  the  child  has  become  a  kind 
of  mediator  between  God  and  man,  revealing  the  Divine  in 
the  human  arid  to  the  human. 

The  second  of  these  "mother-songs"  sets  forth  "the 
emotions  of  the  mother  on  contemplating  her  first-born." 
She  is  chosen  u  for  the  highest  human  dignity,"  having  given 
birth  to  "an  angelic  child  (Engelskind),"  who  is  the  great 
bond  of  Love  between  husband  and  wife,  man  and  fellow- 
man,  God  and  man. 

Plainly  Froebel  has  taken  up  the  medieval  conception  of 
the  Mother  and  Child,  and  transformed  it  into  the  basis  for 
a  new  adoration,  or  a  new  kind  of  cult,  which  is  secular, 
and  means  the  complete  education  of  both.  A  deeply  relig- 
ious, but  not  much  of  a  theological  element  is  here ;  no  vir- 
ginity, no  immaculate  conception,  no  special  divine  sonship ; 
the  latter  is  now  universal,  every  child  is  the  son  of  God, 
and  the  Holy  Family  is  every  family. 

Still  it  is  worth  while  to  notice  the  connection  with  the  old 
30 


466  THE  LIFE   OF    FROEBEL. 

conception  of  Mariolatry  out  of  which  the  new  Madonna 
and  Child  have  evolved  themselves — an  evolution  which 
bears  the  strongest  traces  of  its  origin. 

In  all  this  Froebel  shows  his  kinship  with  medieval  Ger- 
man mysticism  (Tauler,  Eckart),  which  is  so  deeply 
grounded  in  the  Teutonic  spirit.  Even  Italian  Bonaventura 
we  have  to  think  of  also,  in  his  ecstatic  description  of  the 
Blessed  Virgin  (Vita  Beatce  Virginis).  Nor  can  we  forget 
Dante's  exalted  hymn  to  the  same  at  the  end  of  the  Divina 
Commedia. 

These  Mutterlieder  (mother-songs)  were  probably  written 
during  the  Burgdorf  period,  though  not  printed  till  seven  or 
eight  years  later,  with  the  Book  of  Mother  Play-songs,  whose 
primal  germ  and  impulse  they  manifest.  It  is  also  our  opin- 
ion that  they  show  or  at  least  suggest  the  first  form  which 
the  Mother  Play-song  took  in  Froebel's  soul,  under  the  im- 
mediate stress  of  his  emotion. 

4.  To  the  three  foregoing  printed  documents  from  Froe- 
bel's pen,  we  shall  add  the  following  translation  from  Barop 
who  knew  all  the  circumstances  of  the  Burgdorf  period: 
"  His  (Froebel's)  experiences  had  convinced  him  that  edu- 
cation in  the  school  lacked  all  right  foundation  without  a 
reform  of  education  in  the  family.  *  *  *  The  necessity 
of  training  the  mother  advanced  into  the  foreground  of  the 
soul.  *  *  *  The  Mothers'  Book  (Pestalozzi's)  he  pro- 
posed to  replace  by  a  new  hand-book  for  women.  An  ex- 
ternal circumstance  intervened  to  urge  him  forwards.  His 
wife  took  sick  in  the  most  alarming  way,  and,  her  illness 
continuing,  the  doctors  advised  a  complete  change  from  the 
keen  mountain  air  of  Switzerland.  Then  he  resolved  to  go 
back  to  Berlin." 

Madam  Heuriette  Froebel  never  fully  recovered  from  her 
Burgdorf  illness,  but  died  some  three  years  afterwards  at 
Blankenburg.  (The  above  account  of  Barop 's  is  printed  in 
Lange's  edition  of  Froebel's  Works,  I,  1,  p.  12.) 

(42)  p.  293.  We  may  state  here  that  there  is  no  intention 
of  giving  a  full  exposition  of  the  Play-gift  and  the  Play-song 
in  this  Life  of  Froebel.  Those  who  desire  to  know  the 
author's  detailed  view  on  these  two  subjects  are  referred  to 


NOTES.  467 

his  two  special  works :    The  Commentary  on  FroebeVs  Mother 
Play-songs,  and  The  Psychology  of  FroebeVs  Play-gifts. 

After  Froebel's  departure  from  Burgdorf,  his  place  was 
taken  by  Langethal,  into  whose  family  came  Sidonia, 
daughter  of  the  philosopher  Krause,  betrothed  to  young  Von 
Leorihardi,  who  was  seeking  to  engraft  the  Krause  philosophy 
on  the  Froebelian  circle.  Krause  himself  had  died  at  Munich 
in  1832.  Langethal  will  later  go  to  Berne  as  principal  of  a 
Young  Ladies'  School,  much  to  Froebel's  disgust. 

(43)  p.  306.  The  original  passage   in  which  this  famous 
incident  is  recounted  is  found  in  Lange  I,  13.     Barop  gives 
no  date  for  the  incident,  but  it  probably  occurred  in  the  year 
1839>  certainly  some  time  before  the  Festival  of  1840,  one 
purpose  of  which  was  to  bring  this  name  into  general  use. 

(44)  p.  312.  George   Ebers  in  his  History  of  my  Life  has 
celebrated  the  teaching  power  of  Langethal,  after  the  latter' s 
return  to  Keilhau  in  the  early  Fifties.     As  to  the  Blanken- 
burg  Festival  a  very  full  account  is  published  by  Lange,  II, 
415.     It  is  worthy  of    study,  as   it  shows  everywhere   an 
educative  purpose,  though  this  is  not  so  distinct  and  pure 
as  in   the   later  Altenstein  Festival  in  1850,  which  had  no 
financial  scheme  playing  into  its  educational  object.     Then 
the  latter  Festival  has  the  advantage  of  being  described  by 
both    Froebel    and    by    the  Baroness,  the    latter   being  a 
participant  also. 

(45)  p.  318.  The  documents  pertaining  to  this  Blankenburg 
bond-scheme  are  given  in  Lange,  II,  456.     See  translation  in 
Poesche's  Letters  of  Froebel,  p.  165.     In  the  same  collection 
of  Letters  are  numerous  allusions  to  the  Festival  and  its 
consequences. 

(46)  p.  327.  An  interesting  account  of  Unger  is  given  by 
George  Ebers  in  his  History  of  my  Life.     Unger  was  still 
instructor  in  drawing  at  Keilhau  in  Ebers'  time,  some  ten 
years  after  the  period  of  the  Book  of  Mother  Play-songs. 
Many  detached  traits   of    Unger   are   scattered  in  essays, 
articles,    reminiscences,    etc.,   pertaining    to    Keilhau    and 
Froebel. 

(47)  p.  330.  For  a  more  detailed  and  connected  account  of 
the    total    evolution   of  Froebel's   Mother  Play-songs,   the 


468  THE  LIFE   OF    FROEBEL. 

reader  is  referred  to  the  History  and  Genesis  of  the  Play-song 
printed  as  an  introduction  to  the  author's  Commentary  on 
Froebel's  Mother  Play-songs  (new  edition  of  1900). 

The  church  scene  in  No.  48,  of  the  Book  of  Mother  Play- 
songs  may  be  a  reproduction  of  the  second  part  (the  re- 
ligious part)  of  this  Blankenburg  Festival.  The  artist 
Unger  was  doubtless  present.  The  other  church  scene  (in 
No.  22)  in  which  the  two  grandmothers  have  a  leading  place, 
is  probably  taken  from  the  experience  of  early  Keilhau  with 
its  two  old  women.  (See  preceding,  Book  II,  Chap.  II,  pp. 
150,  157,  163,  etc.) 

In  a  letter  dated  Dec.  9th,  1842  (Poesche,  FroebeVs  Letters, 
p.  123,  Eng.  Trans.),  Froebel  writes:  "I  hope  that  it  (the 
Book  of  Mother  Play-songs)  will  be  handed  down  from 
mother  to  children's  children  as  the  book  of  the  family." 
One  day  a  young  lady  of  German  extraction,  a  pupil  of  $he 
Kindergarden  College  in  Chicago,  brought  to  the  author  (her 
teacher)  and  showed  to  him  the  treasure  which  she  deemed 
the  most  precious  heirloom  of  her  family.  It  was  a  fine  copy 
of  the  original  edition  of  Froebel' s  Mother  Play-songs, 
which  had  descended  to  her  from  her  mother's  mother.  A 
striking  instance  of  the  realization  of  Froebel' s  words,  on 
the  other  side  of  the  ocean,  in  a  city  which  did  not  exist  in 
his  time. 

In  the  same  letter  we  catch  glimpses  of  Froebel  in  his 
workshop,  as  in  the  following:  "  From  the  new  year  (1843) 
onwards  I  shall  devote  myself  with  increased  power  to  the 
working-out  and  development  of  the  collected  materials 
before  me."  *  *  *  "  The  ball-games  are  nearly  ready 
for  the  press."  *  *  *  "  The  lithographers  have  finished 
the  drawings  for  the  Sixth  Gift."  *  *-  *  «  The  Book  of 
Mother  Play-songs  we  hope  to  have  out  by  the  end  of  next 
summer  (1843)  but  you  know  what  artists  are  (Unger),  how 
they  delay,  etc."  *  *  *  "  I  labor  unceasingly  at  perfect- 
ing the  whole  system.''1 

(48)  p.  350.  These  wanderings  of  Froebel,  as  given  in  this 
section,  are  put  together  quite  fully  by  Hanschmann,  Froe- 
beVs  Leben,  Zehnter  Abschnitt.  See  also  Poesche,  FroebeVs 
Letters  for  the  same  period. 


NOTES.  -      469 

A  document  which  attests  Froebel's  occupation  with 
Men's  Unions  at  this  time,  is  printed  by  Lange,  II,  484.  It 
contains  a  prospectus  (dated  Feb.,  1845),  and  by-laws  for 
such  a  Union. 

(49)  p.  353.  See  Julius  Froebel's  Ein  Lebenslauf,  I,  s.  236. 
From  Vienna  he  came  on  a  railroad  train  to  Dresden  while 
his  uncle  was  there  lecturing,  but  the  two  kept  aloof  from 
each  other,  and  may  not  have  known  of  each  other's  pres- 
ence in  that  city.     Julius  Froebel  soon  went  to  Frankfort 
and    delivered   to  the  National  Assembly  a  report  of  the 
occurrences  at  Vienna.     This  report  was  printed  and  circu- 
lated far  and  wide,  helping  still  further  to  give  to  the  name 
Froebel  a  revolutionary  distinction. 

(50)  p.  366.  The  story  of  Luise  Levin's  love  for  Froebel 
has  been  repeatedly  told  by  herself  in  letter  and  conversa- 
tion.    The  English  reader  can  find  an  account  emanating 
from  her  in  Heinemann's  edition  of  Froebel's  Letters, 

(51)  p.  386.  The  preceding  account  is  drawn  from  the 
Baroness'  Erinnerungen  an  Frederick  Froebel,  a  book  well 
known  in  the  English  translation   of   Mrs.  Mann   (Bemin- 
iscences    of  Froebel,    Boston:    Lee    and    Shepherd)..    The 
Baroness  has  here  produced  her  best  book ;  in  fact,  it  is  the 
best  literary  book  which  the  German  Kindergarden  has  yet 
sent  forth.     They  are  the  Reminiscences  of  Froebel,  but 
even  more  deeply  the  Reminiscences  of  herself,  though  not 
intended  to  be  so.     Her  object  was  to  erect  a  monument  to 
Froebel,  but  an  equally  great. monument  she  has  erected  to 
herself. 

From  now  on  we  shall  use  this  book  without  much  special 
citation.  It  should  always  be  remembered,  however,  by  the 
student  that  these  Reminiscences  embrace  only  the  last  three 
years  of  Froebel's  life,  he  being  67  years  old  when  he  first 
met  the  Baroness. 

(52)  p.  395.  The  story  of  Froebel  at  Hamburg  has  been 
the  subject  of  a  good  deal  of  literature  and  also  of  tradition. 
Both  sides  have  not  failed  to  express  themselves.     The 
various  Lives  of  Froebel  have  narrated  it,  Hanschmann  quite 
fully,  Goldammer  more  briefly. 


470  THE  LIFE   OF   FBOEBEL. 

(53)  p.  411.  See  the  Erinnerungen,  s.  39  and  41,  as  well 
as  the  whole  section  in  the  same  book. 

(54)  p.  420.  This  Altenstein  festival  has  the  advantage  of 
being  described  very  fully  by  both  the  Baroness  and  by 
Froebel  (Lange,  II,  527).     That  of  the  Baroness  is  translated 
in  the  Reminiscences ;  Froebel's  account,  as  far  as  we  are 
aware,  is  untranslated.     We  must  repeat  that  for  us  it  is  a 
very  significant  piece  of  work,  whose  purport  is  by  no  means 
yet  realized.     The  popular  festival,  like  the  play  of  children, 
can  also  be  made  educative. 

On  p.  428,  the  extract  from  the  edict  is  derived  from 
Hanschmann,  FroebeVs  Leben,  s.  422.  The  part  of  the  Bar- 
oness at  this  eventful  time  is  taken  from  her  oft-cited  book. 
Scattered  allusions  in  Julius  Froebel's  Ein  Lebenslatifhint  his 
view  of  the  decree  and  its  cause.  This  Von  Raumer  is  not 
the  well-known  author  of  the  History  of  Pedagogy. 


WORKS  BY  DENTON  J.  SNIDER 

PUBLISHED    BY 

SIGMA  PUBLISHING  COMPANY, 

10  VAN  BUREN  STREET,  CHICAGO,  ILL. 


I.  Commentary  on  the  Literary  Bibles,  in  9  vols. 

1.  Shakespeare's  Dramas,  3  vols. 

Tragedies  (new  edition),     ....  $2.00 

Comedies  (new  edition),      ....  2.00 

Histories  (new  edition),      .         .                 .  •  2.00 

2.  Goethe's  Faust. 

First  Part  (new  edition),     ,        .        .        .  2.00 

Second  Part  (new  edition),          .        .         .  2.00 

3.  Homer's  Iliad  (new  edition),          .        .         .  2.00 

"        Odyssey,            .         .         .      -  .        .  2.00 

4.  Dante's  Inferno, 2.00 

(l       Purgatory   and   Paradise,        .        .  2.00 

II.  Poems  —  in  5  vols. 

1.  Homer  in  Chios,     .        .        .        .                 .  1.00 

2.  Delphic  Days, 1.00 

3.  Agamemnon's  Daughter,        ....  1.00 

4.  Prorsus  Retrorsus, 1.00 

5.  Johnny  Appleseed's  Rhymes,        .         .         .1.25 

III.  Psychology. 

1.  Psychology  and  the  Psychosis,      .        .        .  2.00 

2.  The  Will  and  its  World,        ....  2.00 

3.  The  Psychology  of  Institutions  (in  preparation) . 

IV.  Kindergarden. 

1.  Commentary  on  Froebel's  Mother  Play-Songs,    1.25 

2.  The  Psychology  of  Froebel's  Play-Gifts,       .  1.25 

3.  The  Life  of  Frederick  Froebel,     .        .        .  1.25 

V.  Miscellaneous. 

1.  A  Walk  in  Hellas, 1.25 

2.  The  Freeburgers  (a  novel),  .        .        .        .1.25 

3.  World's  Fair  Studies, 1.25 

4.  The  Father  of  History  (Herodotus,  in  preparation) . 
WORKS  BY  ELIZABETH  HARRISON: 

1.  In  Storyland, 1.25 

2.  Two  Children  of  the  Foothills,     .        .        .  1.25 


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